martyrdom.victor.01 Chapter 1

[HERE BEGINNETH] THE MARTYRDOM OF SAINT BIKTÔR (VICTOR), THE GENERAL AND MARTYR, THE MAN GLORIOUS IN CHRIST, THE WEARER OF THE CROWN IN VERY TRUTH, WHO COMPLETED HIS GLORIOUS STRIFE ON THE SEVEN AND TWENTIETH DAY OF THE MONTH PHARMOUTE.

IN THE PEACE OF GOD. MAY HIS HOLY BLESSING COME UPON US, AND MAY WE ALL BE SAVED TOGETHER. AMEN.

And it came to pass in the kingdom (i. e. reign) of the Emperor Diocletian in the third year of his reign, in the first month, that the Devil led his heart astray from God, and made him to do the things that were not seemly.

And Diocletian worshipped idols, and thrust the God of heaven behind his back, for the sake of [creatures made of] wood and stones, and for the sake of the vain things that were fashioned by the hands of men.

Hearken [ye] now to [the account of] the valour of the young man [called] Victor.

And the Emperor Diocletian took counsel and decided to do the things that were unseemly before God, Jesus the Christ; and this is what he did.

He made seventy images of gold, and gave unto them the name of gods which they certainly were not.

To thirty-five of these he gave names of gods, and to thirty-five the names of goddesses;

now the number of his other gods and goddesses amounted to one hundred and forty.

And the Emperor Diocletian affixed a decree on the outside of the door of the Palace^ wherein it was written thus :

I, the Emperor Diocletian, [hereby] command that from Romania [in the north] to Pelak (Philac) in the south, every man, whether he be eparch, or general, or count, or bishop, or elder, or deacon, or reader, or servant, or free man, or soldier, or countryman, shall worship my gods.

And any one among these who shall say, 'I am a Christian,' shall be remembered, and he shall die by the sword.

And as for you, O all ye noblemen of high senatorial rank, who hold office in connection with the Palace, ye shall give effect to | this decree in such a way that every man shall worship my gods ;

for these are the gods who give us victory in battle, and it is they who are the protectors of you yourselves, and they give strength unto you and unto the whole army.

Therefore, he that doth not rise up early in the morning, and come at dawn [to me so] that we may go into the temple together and offer up sacrifices to the gods,

he, I say, that doth not come [hither] shall be cast into the sea, so that [all men] may know that I am king, and that there is no other king besides me.'

And it came to pass at dawn, on the first day of the month Parmoute, that the Emperor Diocletian, and all his army, and the eparchs, and the generals went into the temple.

And the Emperor took his seat upon the throne, and he caused the herald to make a proclamation, saying,

O [all] ye Roman people, come ye and offer up sacrifice.'

And the Emperor made an altar of silver and a vessel wherein to burn incense of gold ;

and he made a great pedestal of gold,

and he placed it before the altar so that the [statue of] Apollo might be set upon it.

And the Emperor commanded them to bring frankincense, and the finest flour of wheat, and the purest oil, and rare old wine, and to pour them out upon the altar whereon was blazing fire.

And afterwards they lighted two hundred candles on golden candlesticks, and four hundred candles on silver candlesticks, and two hundred white horses drew his gods into the temple.

'And when they had brought his gods into the temple the Emperor Diocletian stood up on his throne,

and he lifted his crown off his head, and set it upon the head of [the statue of] Apollo, and he bowed down and worshipped it three times, saying,

Thou art the god who livest, O Apollo, the greatest of the gods, who dost give unto us victory in war.

And after the Emperor had worshipped Apollo, his three fellow [Caesars], Romanus, Basileides, and Euaios, came and worshipped Apollo also.

Now these | held equal rank and power with the Fol. 2 « Emperor, and he loved them exceedingly.

And he had given ^ unto each one of them fifty centenarii ^ of gold, in addition to the most noble rank of generals in the army and the other honours which he had bestowed upon them.

And Diocletian said unto them, 'O my fellow [Caesars], I pray you to be persuaded by me, and to worship my gods.

Ye yourselves can see this great festival which hath spread abroad everywhere this day.

I swear by the salvation of my strength, and by the salvation of the seventy gods, and by the strength of the great god Apollo, that I will make the whole world worship my gods,

and the festival which is being celebrated this day shall be proclaimed throughout the whole world.

And ye yourselves shall give propitiatory offerings and gifts to the temple of Apollo, besides those which the eparch and the generals shall give.'

And Romanus gave thirty centenarii of gold, and Basileides gave twenty, and Euaios gave ten, and the Emperor gave sixty ;

in all they gave as free-will offerings to [the temple of] Apollo one hundred and twenty centenarii of gold.

And the Emperor also gave three precious jewels [to be set] in the crown of Apollo^ and they were of exceedingly great price.

And the Emperor said unto Romanus, the general o£ the army^

'Offer thou up sacrifice to my gods' ;

and Romanus went forward and offered up sacrifice together with his two fellow [Caesars],

as did also the other nobles who were attached to the Palace.

On that day six hundred thousand soldiers and two millions of the people of the country worshipped [Apollo], and all the multitudes of the people were gathered together at the sacrifice of the Emperor.

And it came to pass that when the turn of the Protector had come to offer up sacrifice, now his name was Basileides

he would not worship the gods of the Emperor ;

and Diocletian put him to death together with all his house.

And the whole city was greatly shaken by the thronging of the multitude,

and men died, being choked by the fumes of the frankincense^ and by the smell of the incense which the people were offering up upon the altar

And those who died through being^ crushed by the multitudes were five thousand in number, in addi tion to those who died in the temple, who were also five thousand in number, excepting the ones who died in the temple.

And the Emperor Diocletian went about throughout the whole city, saying,

'When ye shall have finished offering up your sacrifices, [ye shall] eat and ye shall drink at the door of [the temple of] Apollo and Artemis,

and ye shall glorify them, for it is they who have made the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and mankind.^

And the Emperor went back to the Palace at the time of the morning meal,

and he called Romanus the general and said unto him,

'Take this edict, and make the rest of the multitude offer up sacrifice before thou dost leave them.'

Then Romanus the general took the edict from the hand of the Emperor,

and he gave orders to the people, saying, 'O Romans, offer ye up sacrifice.'

And it came to pass that when all the people had offered up sacrifice it came to the turn of his son to offer up sacrifice.

Now he was a young man of nineteen years of age, and he worshipped God, and held His commandments in fear.

He was a virgin in body, he ate once only each week, he prayed all night long,

and from the day wherein he had heard the Christians crying out to him in the church his heart had departed into heaven.

He hated the world. He did not drink wine, neither did he eat food cooked with fire.

He did not decorate his person, and he did not adorn himself with rich apparel and fine raiment.

He did not mount the horse which was used in a chariot (i. e. a war-horse).

He neither ate food with his father nor did he enter into converse with him in the presence of any one who was greater than himself.

He never gave utterance to an obscene (or, scurrilous) word,

and never, under any circumstances, did he swear an oath by anything or by anybody.

And whenever he heard concerning any one who was in distress, if that person w^ere a Christian, ^ he used to minister unto him,

and give unto him of whatsoever he had need, without informing his father and mother of the same.

And this was in addition to the things that he used to give to his slaves daily.

He was wont to rise each morning at break of day, and to come forth to the door of his house,

and if he saw any one naked he would strip himself of the garment which he had on him, and give it to him.

And he performed all the commandments which were written,

and he fulfilled all the instructions in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus the Christ.

And his father wearied him exceedingly, saying, 'I shall take the daughter of Basileides the general for thee to wife,'

for his father and Basileides had made an agreement in respect of her for two hundred centenarii of gold, besides gifts, and four hundred centenarii of silver,

and ten menservants, and ten hundred maidservants wearing golden bracelets, and four hundred horses, and ten hundred mules, and ten hundred camels, and ten hundred farms which were under tillage,

and ten hundred ships which sailed the sea, and ten houses (palaces ?) to [each] one of which were attached ten farms under tillage,

besides the things which his father was to give to him, and a very large number of men who were to do the work on [his] land.

And the blessed Apa Victor would not be persuaded by his father and Basileides, and he said unto them,

' All these things shall perish ' ;

and he kept himself for the kingdom that is in the heavens.

And the Lord Jesus was wont to appear to him, face to face, and He loved him because of his purity.

And the noble Victor made for himself a small chamber in his house, I and there he would retire to be free from the company of his parents.

He had not slept upon a couch since he was fifteen years of age.

He prayed by day and by night, and he fasted from one sabbath to another.

He attended the assemblies for the Holy Communion.

He prayed three hundred and sixty-five prayers during the day, and seven hundred and thirty prayers during the night.