martyrdom.victor.02 Chapter 1

His food consisted of bread and salt only.

And the Devil goaded him with carnal desire, for he wished to make him fall into fornication ;

but this noble Apa Victor vanquished him by means of prayers, and fasting, and by his Christian citizenship.

And his fellow noblemen were always making a mock of him, saying, 'Why dost thou not eat?

Why dost thou not drink?

Why dost thou not wear fine apparel and put on beautiful raiment?

Thou wilt die, and then others will consume thy possessions.'

But he was wont to make answer [unto them], saying, ' Apparel becometh moth-eaten,

gold and silver crumble away,

[and] the beauty of the body becometh destroyed in the tomb.'

And Apa Victor was wont to go into his chamber and to pray unto God in the following manner : ' O Lord, hearken unto me!

(O) Lord Jesus the Christ, Thou knowest the speech of heresy, and (Thou knowest) whether I love Thee or not.

O my Lord Jesus the Christ, permit Thou not the love of women to rise up in my heart, lest Satan find a place of abode in my heart, and lest mine enemies rejoice over me, and lest Thou Thyself become wroth with me, and say unto me in the day of the Judgement of Truth (when) I come into Thy hands, 'Depart thou from Me.'

But let Thy lovingkindness bear patiently with me, and do Thou not remove Thyself from me.

Glory be unto Thee, O Father, Who art in the Son, and unto Thee, O Son, Who art in the Father, and unto Thee, O Holy Spirit, for ever, and ever, and ever! Amen.'

Then Romanus the general said unto Apa Victor, his son, 'My son Victor, it is now thy turn to worship the gods of the Emperor, in whose honour the whole city is keeping this day a feast, especially Apollo, the greatest of the gods.'

And Apa Victor looked into the face of his father, saying, 'O my father, hath this foolishness obtained such a hold upon thee this day as to make thee forsake the God of heaven for the sake of the glory that is vanity?

Remember, therefore, that which our Lord Jesus saith in the Gospel, 'Whosoever denieth Me before men, him will I Myself deny before My Father, Who is in the heavens, and before His holy angels.

Do not therefore deny Him, O my father, that He may not deny thee.

For God gave a commandment unto Moses, saying, 'Speak thou unto the children of Israel, saying, Be ye not like unto the nations who worship creatures instead of Him that created (them).

And lift ye not up your eyes to the heavens, to worship the sun, and the moon, and the stars, when ye see them, and the feathered fowl of the heavens, and the four-footed creatures of the earth, for in that day I will destroy you, saith the Lord,'

Now therefore, O my father, be not thou like unto them, lest God destroy thee.

For it would be better for thee that thou hadst never been born than that, having been born, thou shouldst live and make thyself a man without God.'

And whilst Apa Victor was saying these words all the soldiers of the army were looking on him and on his father.

Then Romanus said, | 'O my son Victor, hearken unto me, and do thou offer up sacrifice, and let us bring to an end our trouble in this place.

Now I have never given thee an occasion to grieve from thy childhood up.

Remember, O my son Victor, that I am seeking after thy bride,

and I am going to take her for thee to wife in the very next month which is coming.

Apa Victor said unto his father, 'I have not asked thee for a bride or for a gift, but I am grieving exceedingly for thee, for thou hast denied the Saviour,

In very truth, O my father, thou art a miserable man,

for the works which thou art doing God hateth.

Now woe and confusion shall come upon thee, because David said, He who is in a battle, and he who carrieth away stuff (or, spoil), the same share appertaineth to both alike.

Moreover, O my father, the man who committeth sin, and the man who is of the same opinion as the man who committeth it, the same disgrace appertaineth to both alike.

I beg thee therefore, by every means, do not this thing, my father.

Get thee away from this sin which leadeth unto death.

Look thou into the Gospel of the Lord, and see that whilst the Jews were crying out, Crucify Jesus, Pilate the Governor took water, and washed his hands

and made himself free from the liability (for His death) among the high priests and the Jews,

and he delivered his soul from death.

And his father was wroth with indignation,

and he swore an oath, saying, ' By Apollo, the greatest of the gods, I will deliver thee over to the Emperor (so that) He may destroy thee.

Dost thou not know that I am well acquainted with the matter wherewith thou art occupied? Thou hast learned to work magic in this Name of Jesus.

Think not, however, O Victor, that he will be able to help thee.

for veFor very many men of thy kind have died for His sake,

and they have been stripped of their worldly goods and of their estates and possessions.

Perhaps thou art grief-stricken because I have not taken for thee to wife thy bride

And Apa Victor answered and said, 'My father, the fruit of the Devil hath taken deep root in thee'

Romanus said unto Apa Victor, 'Knowest thou not, O miserable one, that when a man is disobedient unto his father they put him to death?'

Apa Victor said unto his father, 'Yesterday thou didst worship God and I was thy son; but today I am not thy son, because thou hast made thyself disobedient unto God,

and thou dost worship idols.'

Truly did Paul the scribe say, 'In the case of a man who is a heretic, if after thou hast admonished him once or twice, and he doth not hearken unto thee, let him alone, for thou knowest that his portion is not with God.'

For this reason thou art not my father.

Roman us said unto him, 'Hearken unto me, O my son Victor.

Do not throw away and waste thine early manhood. And do not disgrace thyself in the midst of the imperial palace, and before the whole of the Emperor's army.

I myself shall be put to shame because of thee, and shall be disgraced before the Emperor and his servants, for thou art setting at naught the law of the Emperors, and thou art shewing thyself to be an ill-educated young man among thy companions. And they will take away from thee thy rations, and the Emperor will be angered because of thee.

But, if thou wilt hearken unto me, I will make an appeal to the Emperor on thy behalf, and he will make thee a general, and thou shalt be a man of dignity and honour in the palace of the Emperor.

Be thou not disobedient to me, O my son.

Dost thou not know that I and thy mother have no other son except thee?

I swear by the health of Apollo that if thy mother were to hear that thy body hath troubled thee during the last few days, she would be able neither to eat, nor to drink, and she would grieve sorely (about) thee.

O my son Victor, I swear by mine own health, that on the day whereon thou wast born to me I made an offering of twenty centenarii of gold to the temple of Apollo. I was bound, deaf,

On the third day after thou wast born to me, I betrothed the daughter of Basileides to thee to wife.

And therefore I swear by thine own health, O my son Victor, that if thou wilt worship the glorious gods of the Emperor, I will make a gift unto thee of another thirty centenarii of gold, in addition to the other things which I have determined to give unto thee.'

Then Basileides and Euaios went to Apa Victor, and they said unto him, ' Verily we come to entreat thee this day as a free man.

Wilt thou then make thyself to be as it were a slave before us?

Why hath thine heart turned its gaze aside in this manner ?

And why hast thou not hearkened to thy father who hath made supplication to thee?

Do not put our hearts to shame, who bow humbly before thee.'

And Apa Vietor became wroth,

and he cried out, saying, ' O God, look Thou with Thine eyes, and with Thine ears hear. As I wish to live, even so do I wish that everyone else may have life with me also.

I have no feeling of envy (or, jealousy) in me.

Behold Thou then, O God, the things which they are doing unto me, and see how they even dare to say unto me, 'Take thou thirty centenarii of gold, and deny Jesus in the midst of this multitude.'

Do they not think that I myself am Judas who betrayed (or, gave away) his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, for which reason he inherited the outer darkness for ever?

I swear by the prayers of the saints, for I am not worthy to take an oath by the name of God, that if thou wouldst give unto me the whole world, and the kingdom of Diocletian, and his possessions, and his gods of gold and of silver, which he hath made I would not offer up sacrifice.

For it is written, 'If thou shalt gain the whole world, and lose thy soul, what is the profit (to thee)?'

Dost thou not know know that for the last twelve years I have fasted the whole week through, from Sabbath to Sabbath,

and that I have never once washed in a bath?

And when Romanus had heard these things from his son Victor, he said, ' I swear by Apollo that I will deliver thee into the hands of the Emperor, and he shall destroy thee.

Thou dost not know what I know well, that thou art treating the law with contempt; for it is written, 'When a son is disobedient to his father they shall slay him.''

And Apa Victor said unto his father, 'Behold, that which is written is fulfilled this day, 'A father shall deliver his son over to death.'

If thou shalt deliver me over (to death), O my father, there existeth One Who will help me.

Shall not I reward thee with the reward of my Lord?

For when, the Jews were standing before Him, and crying out 'Crucify Him', and were buffeting Him, He did not reward them with evil in place of evil, but He shewed compassion upon them.

And moreover He is shewing mercy and longsuffering towards all this multitude this day, and upon this lawless king I who is carrying out these evil designs in the midst of this city.