629 MONITUM AD HOMILIAM IN SANCTAS MARTYRES
We have said above, in the Admonition to the Homily on the Cemetery and on the Cross, which was delivered on the Friday of Preparation, that this was held twenty days before the sermon concerning the holy martyrs Bernice, Prosdoce, etc., and that the first words of this sermon are to be referred to that: *Not yet twenty days have passed since we celebrated the memory of the Cross.* This is confirmed by the words which follow a little later: *Then I said: He shattered the gates of bronze, and broke the iron bars.* And in actual fact, in that same homily on the Cross, (the speaker) dwells not a little on the explanation of these words. And thus that calculation of the Greeks is to be rejected, which, thinking that that memory of the Cross is none other than the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which is wont to be celebrated on the fourteenth of September, celebrates the feast of the holy Bernice, etc., twenty days after that, namely on the fourth day of October; not adverting that that homily on the Cross was delivered on the day of Preparation, two days before Pascha.
HOMILY IN PRAISE OF THE HOLY MARTYRS
BERNICE AND PROSDOCE THE VIRGINS, AND DOMNINA THEIR MOTHER
A 1 Not yet have twenty days passed since we celebrated the memory of the Cross, and behold, we are celebrating the memory of the martyrs. Do you see how swift is the fruit of the death of Christ? For the sake of that sheep, these heifers were slaughtered; for the sake of that Lamb, these victims; for the sake of that Sacrifice, these offerings. Not yet have twenty days passed, and immediately the wood of the Cross has brought forth the fair shoots of the martyrs; for these are the achievements of that death. Therefore, consider the proof that what was said then has today become reality through their deeds. Then I was saying: *He shattered gates of bronze, and broke iron bars (Ps. 106:16)*; today these things are demonstrated by deeds. For if He had not shattered the gates of bronze, the women would not have dared to enter while they were so firmly closed; if He had not broken the iron bar, the virgins would not have had the strength to remove it; if He had not rendered the prison useless, the martyrs would not have entered with such boldness. Blessed be God! A woman defying death, a woman bringing our life into that which had brought death—this, the devil’s ancient weapon, has beaten down the devil’s strength! This vessel, weak and susceptible to injury, has become an unconquerable weapon. Women defying death—who would not be amazed? Let the Gentiles be ashamed, let the Jews be confounded, who do not believe in the resurrection of Christ. For what greater sign, tell me, do you seek of that resurrection, when you see such a transformation of things having occurred? Women defying death—a thing which, before this, was fearful and terrible even to holy men.
B Learn, therefore, his previous fear, in order that, seeing his present disdain, you may marvel at God, the Author of the transformation. Learn his former strength, in order that, having learned his present weakness, you may give thanks to Christ who has completely unnerved him. Nothing was stronger than that before, beloved, and nothing was weaker than us; but now there is nothing weaker than that, and nothing stronger than us. Do you see how noble is the change? How God has made the strong weak, and has prepared the weak to be strong, showing us His power from both sides? But so that what is said may not be merely a statement, I bring also the proof. And, if it seems good, let us first demonstrate how even holy men—who possessed great confidence before God, having labored from their achievements and having traversed all virtue—feared it before. C This I show, not that we might condemn the holy ones, but that we might marvel at the power of God. Whence, then, is it clear that the appearance of death was fearful before this, and that all had shuddered at it and trembled? From the Patriarch first. For Abraham the patriarch, the righteous one, the friend of God, who left his country, and house, and kinsfolk, and friends, and despised all present things for the sake of the command of God—he so feared and dreaded death that, when he was about to enter into Egypt, he said these things to his own wife: *I know that you are a woman fair to look upon; it shall be, therefore, that when the Egyptians see you, they will keep you, but me they will kill (Gen. 12:11, 12).* What then? *Say that I am your sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and my soul shall live because of you (Ibid. 13).* What is this, O holy one and patriarch? Do you overlook the woman being dishonored, and the marriage bed being violated, and the wedlock being torn asunder? Do you fear death so much, tell me? And you not only overlook it, but you also weave a snare with the wife, and you act out the drama of the outrage, and you do all things so that the king of the Egyptians might not be exposed as he sets about his adultery, and having taken from her the title of wife, you have invested her with the mask of a sister? But I fear lest, in our zeal to show the power of death, we may appear to be accusing the righteous one; wherefore I shall attempt to do both, to show the weakness of death, and to snatch him from this accusation. But it is necessary first to show him fearing death, and then to deliver him from the charges. Let us see, then, how intolerable and terrible a thing he endured; for to see a wife being dishonored, and to behold her being violated, is ...
Chapter 2: The apology of Abraham
A is more intolerable. What do I say of being defiled by adultery? If but a faint thought of suspicion regarding her occupies the mind, the whole of life becomes bitter and scarcely worth living. For there is a certain fire and an indomitable flame of the disease of jealousy in him; a man declaring its tyrannical and inevitable violence once said: "For the spirit of a man is full of jealousy; he shall not exchange his hatred for any ransom; nor will he spare in the day of judgment, nor will he be appeased by many gifts" (Prov. 6:34-35). For just as the netherworld, he says, cannot be swayed by money, so neither can the man who suffers from jealousy be softened or appeased. Many men, indeed, would often gladly have ransomed their lives to find the adulterer; they would have very gladly tasted the very blood of the husband who allowed his wife to be abused, and would have been content to do or suffer anything for that cause; but this nonetheless intolerable disease, this violent and implacable malady, the just man bore most patiently; and he disregarded the defilement of his wife because of the excessive fear of death and perdition.
B ...from this fear; but now it is time that we free him from the crime and accusation that arises from this, if we have first set forth the accusation itself. What, then, is this accusation at last? "It was necessary," someone will say, "that he should have preferred to meet death rather than to hold the defilement of his wife as nothing." And this is what some make a charge against him, that he preferred to save his own life rather than the chastity of his wife. What are you saying? That he ought to have died rather than to hold the defilement of his wife as nothing? But what would that have profited? For if indeed by his own death he had been about to exempt his spouse from defilement, you would rightly say these things; but if, by dying, he profited his wife nothing in freeing her from defilement, for what reason would he recklessly and unthinkingly betray his own safety? For so that you may understand that not even by his own death could he have freed her from adultery, hear what he says: "And it shall be when the Egyptians see you, they will protect you, but they will kill me" (Gen. 12:12). It was going to happen, therefore, that two crimes would be committed: adultery and murder; it was, however, the part of common sense to make gain from these two. For if by exposing his life—for I will say the same thing again—he had been about to free her from defilement, and the just man having been killed, they had not touched Sarah, you would rightly accuse him; but if, upon him being taken away by death, it would have happened in the same way that his wife would be defiled, for what reason do you accuse the just man who, when two evils were about to happen, adultery and murder, prevented one by his wisdom, namely the murder? For this very affair he deserved even to be praised, because he kept the hand of the adulterer pure from blood. C For you cannot say that by saying she was his sister, he thereby invited the Egyptian to adultery; for even if he had said she was his wife, not even then was he going to depart. And he himself made this clear when he said, "If they see you, they will say, 'This is his wife,' and they will kill me; but you they will protect." Therefore, if he had said she was his wife, both adultery and murder would have been committed; but if he had said "sister," the murder would have been prevented: you see how, with two evils looming, he took away one by his wisdom.
He encounters another objection. Do you wish to learn in what way he even diminishes the crime of adultery, as far as it was in his power, so as not to allow him to be a perfect adulterer? Hear the words themselves again attentively. "Say," he says, "that I am his sister." What does he say? He who takes a sister is no longer an adulterer; for an adulterer is judged by the intent of his mind; for Judas, when he was going in to his daughter-in-law Tamar, was not judged an adulterer (Gen. 38:15); for he was not going in as to a daughter-in-law, but as to a harlot. So also in this place, the Egyptian, who was about to take her, was not to be judged an adulterer, not as Abraham’s wife, but as a sister. But what is this to Abraham, someone will say, who knew well that he was exposing his spouse and not his sister? But not even this is his crime. For if, when he had heard that she was his wife, he would have refrained from the defilement, you would rightly accuse the just man; but if the name of "wife" was going to bring Sarah no advantage to drive off the defilement, as he himself also said, "They will say, 'This is his wife,' and they will protect you," it is much more equitable that we praise the just man who, in such difficulty of affairs, was able both to keep the Egyptian pure from blood, and, as far as it lay in him, to diminish the crime of adultery.
D It remains that we move our discourse to his grandson Jacob, that you may see him also as a man fearing and trembling at death, a man who from his first age had carried apostolic philosophy before him. For Paul instructed his disciples, saying: "Having food and clothing, let us be content with these" (1 Tim. 6:8); this also he asked of God, saying: "If the Lord gives me bread to eat and clothing to put on, it suffices for us" (Gen. 28:20). But yet even he, who sought nothing beyond necessities, who had disregarded home, who had received the blessings, who had obeyed his mother, who was a friend of God, who by wisdom had forced nature (for being posterior in nature, he became prior in blessings), who had been able to do so many things, who had carried such great philosophy and such great piety before him, after six hundred contests, after six hundred struggles, after six hundred bouts and those many crowns, when he was returning to his fatherland and was about to meet his brother, as if he were about to look upon a wild beast, and fearing his indignation, he becomes a suppliant to God and prays, "Rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I fear him, lest perhaps coming he might strike me, and the mother upon the children" (Gen. 32:11). Do you see how this man also feared death? How he trembles, and prays to God for this cause? Do you wish that I show you another great man affected in this same way again? Place before your eyes Elijah, a soul reaching out to heaven and divine: for he who closed heaven and again opened it, who cast down fire from above, who offered that marvelous sacrifice, who for God was zealous—
yet, having surpassed all human things, he so trembles and fears death, that after all those things, after heaven and the sacrifice, after the sheepskin and the wilderness, and such great boldness, he should fear a petty woman and therefore flee. For because Jezebel said, "May the gods do so to me and more also, if by tomorrow I do not make your soul as the soul of one of them that are dead," B Elijah, he says, was afraid, and fled for forty days' journey (3 Kings 19:2-3).
3. Do you see how fearful death is? Let us therefore admire the Master, for He made that which was fearful to the prophets, easy to despise to women. Elijah fled from death; women rushed into death: he was afraid of the threat of death, but they pursued death. Do you see how great a change has suddenly occurred? Those around Abraham and Elijah are in anguish at their end, but women have trampled death under foot like mire. But let us not blame those saints; the fault is not theirs, nor is it an accusation against the weakness of their nature or their choice. God at that time wished death to be fearful, so that the greatness of the grace might be demonstrated afterwards; He wished it to be fearful, for it was a condemnation. For this reason He did not wish to dissolve the threat of the condemnation, so that men might not become more slothful thereafter. Let the decree remain, He says, fearing and disciplining them; for there shall be, there shall be a time, when they shall be relieved of this anguish; which indeed came to pass. For that He relieved us of this anguish, the martyrs show, and before the martyrs, Paul shows. Have you heard in the Old Testament Abraham saying, "That they may spare them, but kill me" (Gen. 12:12)? Have you heard Jacob saying, "Deliver me, O Lord, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I fear him" (Gen. 32:11)?
Do you see Elijah fleeing the threat of a woman because of death? Hear how Paul is disposed toward this matter, whether he considers it fearful as they did, whether he is grieved at its approach, and fears. On the contrary, he even considers the matter to be desirable; for this reason he says, "To depart and be with Christ is far better" (Phil. 1:23). To those, it is fearful; to this man, better: to those, unpleasant; to this man, pleasant: and with very good reason. For the former death led down into Hades; but now death sends one on to Christ. For this reason Jacob says, "You shall bring down my old age with grief to Hades" (Gen. 42:38); but Paul said, "To depart and be with Christ is for me far better." C He said these things not condemning the present life (God forbid, let us be on our guard so as not to give occasion to the heretics), nor as fleeing it because it is evil, but as desiring the better one that is to come. For he did not say that to depart and be with Christ is simply good, but better: and the better shall be better than some good thing. For just as when he says that "He who gives in marriage does well, but he who does not give in marriage does better," he shows marriage indeed to be good, but virginity better; so likewise here: the present life is good, he says, but the life to come is far better. Again, elsewhere, philosophizing on these very same things, he said, "Even if I am poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and congratulate you all; the same you also rejoice and congratulate" (Phil. 2:17-18). What do you say? You are dying, Paul, and you call men partakers of your pleasure? What has happened, tell me? I am not dying, he says, but I am ascending to a greater life. Just as, therefore, people taking authority invite many to share in their joy, so also Paul, going to death, invited those who would rejoice with him. For death is rest, and an end of labors, and a reward for toils, and a prize for struggles and a crown. Therefore, in the beginning, lamentations and mournings were made over the dead, but now psalms and hymns. Jacob, at any rate, was mourned by the Jews for forty days, and they mourned Moses for the same number, and they beat their breasts; because state of death was death then. But now it is not so, but hymns and prayers and psalms, all signifying that the matter has pleasure; for the psalms are a symbol of cheerfulness. "Is anyone cheerful among you?" he says, "let him sing" (James 5:13). Since, therefore, we are filled with cheerfulness, for this reason we sing psalms over the dead, encouraging them regarding the transition. "Return, for He says, O my soul, to your rest, because the Lord has dealt bountifully with you" (Ps. 114:7). Do you see that death is a benefit and rest? For he who has entered into that rest, has rested from his works, just as God did from His own.
4. And so much for the matter of death. Come, let us therefore proceed to the eulogy of the martyrs, if you have not grown weary of listening; for even these things took their subject from the eulogy of the martyrs: but it is necessary to carry the discourse a little further back. A war was once stirred up against the Church, a harsh one, the heaviest of all wars; for this war was twofold; one from within, the other from without; one from those belonging to the house, the other from the enemies; one from strangers, the other from acquaintances. D And yet, even if the war had been simple, the evil would have been unbearable, and even if it had attacked only from without, the magnitude of the woes would have been great. But now it was twofold, and the war from those of the house was more harsh than that from those without. For it is possible to be easily on guard against a declared enemy; but he who wears the mask of a friend, while acting as an enemy, is hard to be caught by those who are being plotted against. The war, therefore, was twofold at that time, one a civil war, the other coming from those without; or rather, if one ought to speak the truth, either war was civil. For even those attacking from without—judges, magistrates, and soldiers—were not some foreigners, and barbarians, and of another government and kingdom, but were governed by the same laws, inhabiting the same fatherland, and partaking of the same polity. The civil war, therefore, was that from the judges, but the more harsh one was that from one's own kin, which was strangely unreasonable and full of much cruelty. For brothers were handing over brothers, and fathers—
635 new, strange, and redundant in its cruelty. For brothers were betrayed by brothers, children by fathers, and wives by husbands; all the laws of kinship were trampled upon, and the entire world was subverted; nor did anyone recognize anyone anymore, for the devil was ruling in the highest degree. In that tumult and war, therefore, these women—if indeed they should be called women, seeing that they displayed a manly spirit in a female body, or rather, not only a manly spirit, but even transcended nature itself and contended with incorporeal powers—these women, abandoning their city, their home, and their kin, emigrated to foreign parts. "For when Christ," they reasoned, "is treated with indignity, let nothing be precious or dear to us by ties of blood." On account of this, they left everything and departed. And just as when a house is set on fire in the middle of the night, those who were sleeping inside, once they hear the tumult, quickly jump from their beds and fly out of the doorway of the house, not taking with them any of the things that are inside—for they are eager for this one thing: to rescue their own bodies from the flame and to escape the fire running with such great speed—so too did these women act. For when they saw the whole world set ablaze, they immediately dashed out and flew from the doorway of the city, seeking this one thing: to preserve the salvation of their souls safe and sound. For at that time the fire was hostile, and profound darkness reigned—darkness much more dismal than that of night. For this reason, as in the dark, friends did not recognize friends, and husbands betrayed their wives; therefore, they bypassed enemies and attacked friends and household members. It was a kind of nocturnal, hostile battle, and everything was filled with great tumult. B
The Holy Martyrs Abandon Their Fatherland
Then, therefore, they left having abandoned their fatherland, and imitated the patriarch Abraham, to whom it was said: "Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred" (Gen. 12:1). For the time of persecution exhorted them also to this: to go out from their land and from their kindred, that they might thus possess heaven as their inheritance. A mother was going out from her home, having two daughters with her. But do not pass over this lightly, when you hear that women who were delicately raised, and not accustomed to bearing such evils, had departed; but consider in your mind how great that evil was, and how surrounded with difficulties that matter was. For if men, when they set out on a modest journey—with beasts of burden at their disposal, with attendants not lacking, with the roads free from danger, and with the power of returning in their own hands—experience many troubles and suffer many miseries, where a woman and virgins are involved, with a lack of attendants, with the betrayal of friends, with tumult, with disturbance, with intolerable fear, with dangers of all kinds, with the jeopardy of one’s life, and with enemies on all sides—what speech will be able to express the struggles, the fortitude, the magnanimity, and the faith of these women? For if the mother had gone out alone, the trial would not have been so intolerable; but now, when she was leading her daughters, both of them virgins, there was a double occasion for fear and a great increase of anxiety; for by how much the greater the possession, so much the more difficult is its guardianship. She was going out, therefore, having virgins, and having no bedrooms in which to hide them—although you know what bedrooms are, and women’s quarters, doors, bars, guards, watchers, handmaidens, nurses, and the mother’s constant attention, and the father’s providence, and the great care of parents employed so that the flower of virginity might be guarded, and scarcely even then is it kept safe. C But she was destitute of all this custody. By what means, then, could she protect them? By the custody of the divine laws, clearly. She had no house with which to be enclosed; she had a powerful hand by which to be protected from heaven. She had no door, nor bar, but she had the true door which keeps deceits far away. And just as in the midst of Sodom the house of Lot was besieged (Gen. 9:10, seq.), yet it suffered no evil, because it had angels within, so too these martyrs, placed among the Sodomites and all their enemies and besieged on every side, suffered no evil, because they had the Lord of the angels dwelling in their souls. And though carried away into a desert journey, they suffered nothing, because they had the Way that led them to heaven. Therefore, in such great war, tumult, and waves, they walked in security. And, what is truly marvelous, sheep were being led through the midst of wolves; lambs were proceeding through the midst of lions, and no one looked upon them with lascivious eyes. But just as God did not allow the Sodomites standing near the door to see the entrance, so too he blinded the eyes of all at that time, so that these virginal bodies should not be betrayed. D They went, therefore, to a city called Edessa, a city much more rustic than many, but more illustrious in piety. For what could they have judged from that city to be equally as commodious, as that they might find a refuge in such a great storm and have a harbor in such a tempest? And the city received the strangers—strangers to the earth, indeed, but citizens of heaven—and it kept the deposit received. But let no one accuse the women of weakness because they fled; for they were fulfilling the dominical precept, which says: "When they shall persecute you, out of this city, flee into another" (Matt. 10:23). Having heard this, they fled, and meanwhile a single crown was being woven for them. What, then, was that? The contempt of all present things. "For whoever shall have left brothers, and sisters, or father, or mother, or home, or friends, or kin, shall receive a hundred-fold," he says, "and shall possess eternal life" (Matt. 19:29). And they were there having Christ as a companion. For if where two or three are gathered, he is in the midst of them (Matt. 18:20), where they were not only gathered, but also exiles on account of his name, would they not with much greater right merit his help? While the women were staying there, nefarious edicts were immediately being transmitted in every direction, filled with much tyranny and barbaric cruelty: "For," it says, "neighbors shall betray neighbors, husbands their wives, fathers their children, children their fathers, brothers their brothers, friends their friends."And do you here call to mind the words of Christ, and wonder at His prediction; for He foretold all these things from the beginning. He says: Brother will betray brother, and father his child; and children will rise up against their parents (Matt. 10. 21). A He foretold these things at that time for three reasons: First, that we might learn His power, and that He is truly God, seeing even those things not yet come to pass from afar. For that He foretold the future for this reason, hear Him saying: For this reason I told you before it came to pass, that when it happens you may believe that I am (John 14. 29). Secondly, that none of the enemies might say that these things happen because He did not know or was weak; for He who foreknew from the beginning could also have prevented it; yet He did not prevent it, that the crowns might become more brilliant. For this reason He foretold these things, and for a third reason besides He declared them. What is this? That He might make the struggle lighter for those in the lists; B for unexpected evils, whatever kind they may be, appear grievous and intolerable, but those that have been expected and rehearsed become light and easy. At that time, then, the enemies, by commanding these things, both displayed their own cruelty and, albeit unwillingly, bore witness to the prophecy of Christ, and brothers betrayed brothers, and fathers their children, and nature itself waged war against itself, and kinship was rent against itself, and all laws were overturned from the foundations, and all things were filled with a certain tumult and disturbance, and the demons then filled the houses with kindred blood. For the father who betrayed the son surely also slaughtered him; for even if he did not thrust the sword, nor with his own right hand perform the slaughter, yet he accomplished the whole by his resolve; C for by handing over the one about to be murdered to the murderer, he himself committed the murder. Let us therefore make them child-slayers, the demons said, let us make the children patricides through the betrayal; for such sacrifices were offered to them of old, and fathers slaughtered their children. And of these the prophet cried out, saying: They sacrificed their sons, and their daughters to the demons, and thirsted for such blood (Ps. 105. 37).
Since, therefore, Christ put an end to these impious and defiled sacrifices, they strove to renew them again, but they did not dare to say shamelessly and openly, "Slaughter your sons," for no one was about to obey; but they plot the command otherwise and devise a scheme against the law, having ordered through the judges that a father betray his children; for it makes no difference to us, they say, whether one slaughters or hands over the son for slaughter; for both this man and that is a child-slayer. D There was, therefore, to be seen patricides, child-slayers, brother-slayers; all things filled with tumult and disturbance; but the women enjoyed a deep calm. For the hope of future things fortified them from every side, since even though they were in a strange land, they were not in a strange land; for they had the faith as a true fatherland, they had the confession as their own city, and being nourished by good hopes, they perceived none of the present things, for they beheld only the things to come. With matters in this state, the father appears in that city having soldiers for the capture of the prey; the father appears and husband, father of the daughters, and husband of the wife, if it is right to call a father or husband the one who ministers such things. Rather, let us spare him as much as possible, for he became a father of martyrs, and a husband of a martyr; let us not make his wound more grievous than it is by our own accusations.
Chapter 6
Observe the prudence of the women. For when it was necessary to flee, they fled, and when it was necessary to enter into the contests, they stood fast, and followed bound by the love of Christ. For just as it is not necessary to draw temptations upon oneself, so, when they are present, it is necessary to struggle, that we may display gentleness from the former and fortitude from the latter; which is exactly what they were doing at that time; and they returned, and they contested. For the arena had been opened, and the time called for the contests; and the manner of the struggle was thus.
They came to a city called Hierapolis, and from thence, indeed, they ran to the holy city through such a device. A river flowed by that road along which they were returning, and, having caught the soldiers eating and drunken; but some say that having also taken the father as a collaborator in deceiving the soldiers, and I am persuaded; for perhaps he did these things for this reason, that he might be able to lay aside for himself, at least, some small apology for this betrayal for the day of judgment, to have assisted, and helped, and made the run toward martyrdom easier; having therefore taken him as a collaborator, and through him having been able to deceive the soldiers, they entered into the middle of the river, and let themselves go along those currents. A mother entered with two daughters; let mothers and virgins hear, and let the former be persuaded thus by mothers, and the latter be educated thus by daughters, and let them love their children thus; the mother entered then in the middle, holding the daughters on either side, she who held the husband in the middle of those unacquainted with marriage, and the marriage was the middle of the virginity, and Christ in the middle of them. Just as, therefore, a root of a tree having two shoots standing on either side, so also the blessed one at that time, having the virgins on either side of her, entered, and let them go upon the waters, and they were suffocated in this way; or rather they were not suffocated, but were baptized a new and wondrous baptism. And if you wish to learn that what happened then was a clear baptism, hear how Christ calls His own death a baptism. For, speaking to the sons of Zebedee: Can you drink the cup, He says, and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? (Mark 10. 38). With what baptism was Christ baptized after the baptism of John, if not the death and the cross? As, therefore, James, not being crucified, but having laid aside his head with a sword, was baptized with the baptism of Christ; so these, even if they were not crucified, yet having been perfected through water, were baptized with the baptism of Christ; and the mother baptized them. What are you saying? A woman baptizes?
Yes, such baptisms and women baptize, just as she did then, and she became a priest; for she offered up rational victims, and her own purpose served as an ordination for her. And the wonderful thing is that she did not require an altar to sacrifice, nor wood, nor fire, nor a sword; for the river served her in place of everything—as altar, and wood, and sword, and fire, and sacrifice, and baptism—a baptism much more evident than this water baptism. For concerning the latter, Paul says: *We have been buried with him by baptism into death* (Rom. 6:4). But concerning the baptism of martyrs, he does not speak merely of being buried with Him, but that we are *made conformable unto His death* (Phil. 3:10).
Therefore, the mother brought her daughters, not as if she were about to lead them into a river, but as if she were leading them into the bridal chambers. She led them, holding them on either side, and saying: *Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me* (Isai. 8:18). "You gave them to me; I commend them to You—those who are mine, as well as myself." And thus the woman’s martyrdom was doubled, or rather tripled; for she underwent martyrdom once for herself, and twice through her daughters. And just as she needed great endurance when she was about to surrender herself, so too did she need equal endurance—or rather, much greater—when she drew her daughters along with her. For women are not accustomed to grieve as much at their own impending death as they are when their daughters suffer this. Thus, she was crucified by a more grievous martyrdom through her daughters, when she girded herself to repress the tyranny of nature, and resisted the flame of maternal love and the unbearable turmoil of her entrails and the agitation of her womb.
For if a person who sees one daughter dying thinks her life is bitter, consider what kind of martyrdom she exhibited, who, not seeing two daughters dying, but dragging them to death with her own hand, endured that which is intolerable even for others to hear of, let alone to suffer. And the soldiers, in their utter ignorance, waited, as if they were about to receive them back again, while they were already with the soldiers of Christ and the heavenly angels; for the guards did not see this, since they did not have the eyes of faith.
Concerning the mother, Paul says: *She shall be saved through childbearing* (1 Tim. 2:15); but here, the daughters were saved through their mother. Thus, indeed, it is right for mothers to bear children. For this birth is better than the former one, in which, though the pains are more bitter, the gain is greater. As for those pains of labor, as many as have been mothers know what pain a mother endures when she sees her children meeting death; but to be the one to perpetrate the slaughter with your own hand—this cannot be expressed in words.
Chapter 7: Why Domnina did not await judgment. He amplifies the affection of mothers toward their daughters
But why, pray, did the woman not come to the tribunal? She wished to set up the trophy before the battle, to seize the crown before the contests, to carry off the prizes before the wrestling. It was not that she feared the torments, but she was afraid lest they fall under the eyes of the lascivious. She did not fear that someone would pierce her own sides, but she feared lest someone corrupt the virginity of her daughters. That she was not seized by the former fear—that she did not come to the tribunal for fear of torments—is manifest from this: she tolerated much more grievous torments in the river. For in truth, as I have said, it is far more grievous and bitter to sink one’s own entrails—my daughters, I mean—with one’s own hand and to see them suffocated, than to see one’s flesh lacerated. And she needed much less philosophy for enduring those torments than for taking the right hands of her daughters and pulling them along with her into the river's currents. For it does not bring half as much heartache to see others being tortured, as it does to serve death oneself, to be the minister of the killing oneself, and to have to play the executioner to one’s own daughters—this is far more grievous and unbearable than that.
You will all bear witness to this speech of mine, as many of you as have been mothers and have experienced the pains of childbirth and have taken up daughters. How did she seize the right hand of the maidens? How could it be that her hand did not grow numb? How were her nerves not resolved? How was her mind not cast down from its state? How could her reason serve those things that were being done? For that act was more bitter than six hundred torments, since her soul was being tortured in place of her body. But how long shall we strive to pursue things that no one can attain? For no speech could express the magnitude of the passion; only the woman who suffered and contended knows what kind of contests these are.
Let mothers hear these things, let virgins hear; mothers, so that they may instruct their daughters in this way; virgins, so that they may obey their mothers in this way. For it is not only fitting to praise the mother who ordered such things, but also to commend the daughters who obeyed in these matters. For neither did the mother need bonds for her sacrifices and victims, nor did the maidens shrink back, but with an equal alacrity of mind and with the same spirit, pulling the yoke of martyrdom, they entered the river, having left their footwear on the bank of the river. They did this in order to provide for the guards themselves; so great was the providence of those saints. They were eager to leave the court room a pretext for their defense, lest that cruel and pitiless judge accuse them of treason, or of having let the women go because they were corrupted by money. For this reason they left their footwear behind, which would testify to the conscience of the soldiers that they had jumped into the river of their own accord, without the guards' knowledge or complicity.
Perhaps you have burned with no small love for those saints; with this ardor, then, let us fall down before their relics, let us embrace their caskets; [640E] for the caskets of the martyrs can possess much power, just as the bones of the martyrs have great force. And let us not only sit by them on the day of this feast, but on other days as well; let us entreat them, let us implore them to be our patrons; for they possess much confidence, not only living, but even dead—and much more so when they are dead. For they already bear the stigmata of Christ; and when they show these stigmata, they can persuade the King to do anything. Since, therefore, they are endowed with such power and have such friendship with Him, having insinuated ourselves into their familiarity through a continuous, as it were, obsession and perpetual visitation of them, let us obtain the mercy of God through their intercessions; which may it be granted to us all to attain, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.