THE MARTYRDOM OF THE MOST BLESSED MARTYR ANDREW OF CHIOS WHO DIED IN CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF PAUL II, WRITTEN IN LATIN BY GEORGE OF TREBIZOND.
(Acts of the Saints, 29 May)
I. When I had already sailed from Crete to Constantinople three years later, I found that whole city, together with Galata, in no small admiration and joy on account of the singular and, for many ages, unheard-of martyrdom of Andrew of Chios for the profession of Jesus Christ. For it had been accomplished shortly before with marvelous constancy by the grace of God. For I myself arrived in the month of November in the year of the incarnation of the Lord 1465. But Andrew, the chief martyr of Christ, attained the crown of martyrdom on the 29th day of the month of May of the same year by the mercy of Christ, and ascended to the heavens to Him for whom he endured many tortures. But that which will appear more admirable to one who considers it rightly is this: that unless Andrew’s martyrdom, divinely ordained, had brought aid to the Christians by divine grace and strengthened their spirits, a great slaughter and immense calamity from the enemy of the human race would have been unleashed upon them like a storm. For a certain man—whom I do not name for the sake of honor*—who came from the city of Trebizond, a professor of Peripatetic philosophy, either of his own accord (as many say) or compelled (I do not know, nor if I knew would I dare to say), denied the cross of the Lord and adhered to Mahomet—[that he might] cling to him, so that I might undergo the labors of wars and undertake great perils for a mortal emperor, and as a Christian born, unsheathe a sword against Christians? And finally, to rush into death, which the philosopher felt was to be avoided, in order to descend headlong into an eternal and true death? Such were his words. B
II. Wherefore the king of the Turks, elated, cast into prison a certain man whose name escapes me, who was himself a Trebizondian most expert in military matters: thinking it worthy that the philosopher should—willingly or not—imitate his fellow countryman; for he desired to use his skills in military affairs. And since he did not trust him as a Christian, he desired to force him over to Mahomet. But he, a martyr in spirit, said: "A philosopher educated in delights denied the cross of Christ with an even greater hope of those same [delights]; but I, who have endured so many and such great labors for my mortal emperor while waging wars with the Scythians—and have suffered wounds (he said, and, opening his chest, showed his scars)—shall I fear death for a heavenly emperor? Far be such madness from me. Moreover, what kind of mind, or rather, what kind of folly would it be for me to betray the truth for the sake of avoiding pain, and to repudiate eternal and heavenly kingdoms [to adhere] to Mahomet?" C
III. But while these things were happening in Constantinople, Andrew was suffering gravely from fevers and vowed that he would remain celibate forever to the Virgin, Queen of Mercy, if he should escape. Once the fevers had immediately subsided, he rose shortly thereafter as if from the dead and clothed himself in white garments, so that he might never forget the purity of body which he had offered to the Mother of the Creator. He then set out for Constantinople, not as a merchant or as some wanderer with a desire to see great cities; for a gravity and constancy beyond his twenty-seven years shone forth in the youth: rarely did one hear an empty word fall from his mouth; for he was utterly alien to jesting. Why, then, did he go? By the grace of God, as I believe, he was called to martyrdom, so that he himself might stand with the other martyrs in the heavens, and might be of service to all who had been troubled by the levity or the terror of the philosopher. Immediately upon his arrival in the city, he was accused of associating with Christians and visiting churches, as if he were a man of the greatest religion and devotion, [who was really one] who—at Alexandria—denied, trampled upon, defiled with spittle, and finally cast into the dung the cross. Egyptian merchants residing in the city at that time reported these things to the judge and testified that they themselves had seen him denying [the cross], and had heard him confessing that he adhered to Mahomet.
IV. Andrew is dragged before an iniquitous judge, and, the accusation having been read, he declared that he had never departed from Chios, where he was known and had been educated, until that very time, and he proved this with many witnesses, asserting that the whole city of Chios knew this to be true. The iniquitous judge considered that in this matter the Christians were not to be heard. Then a multitude of Christians, who stood around, said: "If," [they said], "the testimony of Christians...
*Alludes to the philosopher Amyrutzes of Trebizond, who was turned from a Christian into a Hagarene. We have edited above, col. 723, his letter directed to Bessarion in which he describes the conquest of Trebizond by the Turks. Ed.
Martyrdom of St. Andrew of Chios
A ...must testimony in a matter of this kind be refuted? You err, they reply: for we do not accept that of the Mahumetists either in such a way. For just as we justly defend a Christian falsely accused, so the Mahumetists contend that the accusation of their own [people] is true. Wherefore, leaving aside witnesses, the thing itself must be examined. Not otherwise, therefore, than the Jews according to the Mosaic Law did your prophet command that his people be circumcised: wherefore if the genital members of this man have been injured with a similar mark, he shall lawfully be punished with death; but if not, the matter shall be determined by the fact itself, and no ambiguity will remain in the minds of men. Meanwhile the soldier of Christ is despoiled, and is looked upon naked by so great a multitude: no indication of it, no stain of circumcision, no vestige of the Mahumetists appears. The Christians exclaim with joy, the adversaries are confounded, and, being completely conquered, they are crushed: were it not that, aided by diabolical craft, they proposed that it is the custom in Egypt for men of a younger age to be circumcised, and for older ones, if they convert to Mahumet, the prophet of God, to be circumcised if they wish: but if they abhor circumcision, they can in no way be forced, since it is better to win the soul of a man, adhering to us from the whole heart in all other things except circumcision, than to reject him because he shrinks from circumcision. For these reasons, or rather because he favoured his own sect, the confused judge said that he did not wish to pronounce any sentence in so great a matter, unless he had consulted the king; for so it is the custom in ambiguous and difficult causes.
V. The king, therefore, after the soldier of Christ had been cast into prison, approached to consult: when he had reported all things to him, and had been asked about his age and the whole bearing of his body: "A youth," he said, "invincible in spirit, and of great stature, girded with large bones and sinews." The king desires to have such men in his militia: "Go," said he, "and first, if he wishes to be ours, we offer him a centurionship in our militia; then, according to how we shall see him excel in virtue, we shall promote him to greater things. But if he is not moved by benefits, you shall shake him with threats and terror; and if you can prevail by neither way, you shall strike off his head." Therefore on the other day, when he was brought forth, first the king’s promises are proposed with marvelous amplification: "You shall be chief, Andrew, of an hundred soldiers, and from the condition of common men, you shall be numbered with the princes, and your virtue and diligence shall easily extol you to greater things." But when the martyr of Christ, by answering nothing, seemed to contemn what was offered, those who were surrounding him, enemies of the truth, some promised silver and gold, others garments, others various household goods; and when he persevered more sharply in silence: "Why," they say, "do you not consider even your words worthy of us?" "Worthy, indeed," he said, "you are of much greater things than I could say or imagine; but the things which you offer are worthy of no reply. For why do you think that this fleeting and mortal life has anything of greatness, by which you strive to open the way to me for that [life], and furthermore strive to render this one happy for you? These do not cohere," he said, "the transient with the eternal, the miserable with the happy, the profane with the blessed. But what need is there of words? I make the happiness of this age of no account: I will never, relying on the help of my Christ, deny the cross, the passion, and the burial of my Christ. Decree against me whatever you have willed; I ask one thing, that you do not tempt me with words any longer."
VI. With these things said, having been cast into prison at once, fettered in chains, bound by his feet and hands, he lay until the afternoon of the following day, which was the 20th of May. Immediately after midday he is dragged out, and is led into the part of the city which looks towards the east, near the sea, where, bound naked to a stake, he is beaten with scourges and thongs, more sharply than can be told: at the beginning of the scourges and blows he is said to have trembled, and with his hands drawn to his breast and his fingers compressed into a fist, he exclaimed with a loud voice: "Virgin Mary, help me." Then with his feet brought one to the other, he stood upright in the same tracks, marvelous to say, until the setting of the sun. Meanwhile, while the soldier of Christ is exercised with these torments, that Trapezuntian, of whom I reported above, leaning out from the window of the tower in which he had been shut up, was crying out: "O happy Christian, O blessed island which gave birth to you, O most noble and in every way praise-worthy race from which you have sprung. Would that I were there with you, that I might suffer the same for Christ!" He was vociferating these and other things, desiring, as I suppose, the crown of martyrdom. But the executioners, Andrew having been led back, anoint his precious members, foully torn by many scourges and thongs, with ointments, and they also offered food and drink, for strengthening the soul in the body, by the advice of physicians, of whom many and very skillful were present, and they bring water to drink, in which not a little weight of purified gold had boiled. They were doing this, so that his longer life might bring something to the denial of the cross, and at the same time might show how much they valued his life: perhaps also, because they were brought up with Christians, and some of them had been Christians. Nor were they ignorant of how the martyrs of Christ were once tormented by day, and were recovering by night. Wherefore, fearing lest this might happen by divine power, they were striving to hide the truth from their own people with medicines.
VII. On the twenty-first day of the same month he is again brought forth, and having been denuded, his back, which on the previous day had been scourged, is torn apart with iron claws, nor did the soldier of Christ do or say anything else, although he previously trembled at the beginning, and brought his hands to himself, and compressed his fingers into fists, and held his feet in the same tracks, and cried out with a loud voice: "Virgin Mary, help me." Thus the Trapezuntian also, from the tower, was repeating again and again the same things which he was vociferating the day before. On the arrival of night, he is anointed with ointments, and is sustained in like manner with medicines and waters, into which great virtue of gold had been infused, as if the enemies of the cross held his salvation dear. D
A Since they declared that great virtue resided in these things, they attributed the grace of the Holy Spirit to the skill of the physicians, and to the suitability of the food and drink. For as the day dawned, the martyr of Christ appeared completely healthy, a thing that cannot be brought about by medicines; for since these act naturally, they require a longer time and appropriate application, lest they bring matters into dispute; which, however, they can by no means do, if the body is repeatedly goaded and even more cruelly tortured. What power can bring aid besides the divine? Truly, none.
VIII. On the twenty-second day of the same month, he is similarly brought out after midday, and his hands and feet are twisted in such a way that neither the joints of his fingers, nor his elbows, nor his knees remained in their proper places, but everything started from its joints: which is the greatest pain of all. Other things were done and said in a similar manner, not only by him—who, however, cried out nothing but, "Virgin Mary, help me," at the beginning of his pains, and that only once—but also by that Trapezuntian, who sought his own martyrdom in such a way that he frequently repeated to many people, even to the Mahometans who were listening, what has been said above. The diligence of the physicians is likewise said to have been similar, or indeed even greater.
On the twenty-third day, Andrew, unscathed and healthy—not by the art of the physicians, but by the power of that first martyr and of our Lord Jesus Christ—is brought out and vexed by a new kind of torture: they strip his shoulders of flesh with swords, always striving that a swifter death might not overcome him. For they hoped that if not by the bitterness and magnitude of the pains, they would at least overcome him by their duration, but they finally lay defeated in their derision. At the decline of the day, he is led back, just as on the previous days, with the same words and deeds, and with medicines applied no differently than before.
On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, all things are done in the same manner and in the same place, in which the buttocks are stripped of flesh with razors—not suddenly, but with delay, so that the bitterness of the pain might be felt more. Everything else was done similarly, as on the previous days, and things were said in the same way also by the Trapezuntian with the same mind and will, who during those days when Andrew was suffering, was similarly crying out from the tower.
On the twenty-fifth day, the parts of the legs that are between the knees and the buttocks are similarly stripped of their flesh; the rest was said and done in the same way.
On the twenty-sixth day, the calves, that is, the fleshy parts of the legs which are between the knees and the hams, are similarly stripped of their flesh. And other things were done, said, and procured in the same way.
On the twenty-seventh day, the thigh and the parts of the body around it are flayed.
On the twenty-eighth day, his whole body from head to foot is beaten with lashes, so that, with the pains renewed, he might finally be moved. His jaw was also stripped of its flesh with a single blow, which the Christians, seizing it, preserved; and it was in the monastery of the blessed Francis, fragrant with an unusual and wonderful odor.
888 IX. On the twenty-ninth day of the same month, in the first year of the pontificate of Pope Paul II, Andrew of Chio, the martyr of Christ, is last brought out to the usual place at the eastern part of the city, near the sea, healthy, lively, joyful of countenance, and noble of face. The Mahometans, moved by these things, asserted that it was done by the power of the medicines, and accusing him of ingratitude: "Do you not see, Andrew?" they shouted. "Care for your life has been taken by us; by our effort, and indeed by that of the king himself, you are unharmed, both by the power of medicines and by the grace of Mahomet, who wishes you to despise the follies of the Christians concerning the cross and the passion of Jesus: since you do not acknowledge these benefits, you ungrateful man, you will die." "It is not death," he said, "so death, but life. Therefore, do not think that I can be terrified by your words: nor have the medicines availed, since they can hardly bring any relief even to the smallest wounds after many days. But the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary have preserved and kept me to this day." With these words, he placed his head under the executioner's sword and flew away to the heavenly kingdoms.
B X. Then his ministers of death, as the judge had ordered, attempt to drag his head and trunk quickly to the sea. The Christians, who stood around shedding tears, the multitude of whom was great, exclaim that the dead man ought to be buried, not thrown into the sea. Upon them resisting, they say that the royal majesty must be consulted, whether he wishes the man, now dead, to be buried or thrown into the sea. Upon hearing this, the judge himself rushes to the king (for it is not permitted for the judges, when they hear that the king must be consulted, to do anything further until they have first reported to the king). But the primates of the Christians also go to the king as quickly as they could: who, having perceived by what tortures and for how long Andrew had been vexed, is said to have flared with anger, and to have used such fierce words against the judge that the iniquitous judge, terrified, did not even dare to mutter. But that anger and those huge threats vanished along with his words. He then orders the Christians to bury Andrew honorably, as befits a brave man. They, having placed the head onto his body, carried him off to Galata. C There was present, moreover, the entire population of both cities, Galata and Constantinople, men as well as women, boys and girls, free and slave; and not only many Christians, but also many Mahometans moved by admiration, no fewer than ten tens of thousands: all of whom, some weeping, others praising his deeds, some his constancy and strength of mind, others his prudence and gravity, others his contempt for human affairs; many telling of faith in Jesus Christ, in his cross and passion, and devotion to the immaculate Virgin. At last, they arrived at the extreme part of Galata towards the east, adjacent to the sea, where there is a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, if I remember correctly; there he lies buried.
XI. These things having been so done, the king flared with great desire D