SAINT PETER, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA AND MARTYR
HISTORICAL AND LITERARY NOTICE
(GALLAND, *Vet. Patr. Biblioth.* IV, Proleg., x.)
1. The merits of Peter, the Alexandrian bishop, celebrated by Eusebius above all others. He was the successor of Theonas. The time of his see is determined. He died as a martyr at the end of the year 311.
II. During the time of persecution, he wrote Penitential Canons. Many Oriental writers regard these Canons and other works of the holy Father very highly. The Greeks do the same. These Canons are presented here, furnished with the commentaries of Balsamon and Zonaras; some of them, moreover, have been collated with a manuscript codex.
III. Fragments collected from other monuments of the most blessed bishop. Interwoven with these is his epistle edited by Maffeius. The time when the Meletian schism arose.
A 1. The holy Father wrote Penitential Canons in the fourth year of the persecution, in the year of Christ 306, on behalf of those who had lapsed in the aforementioned persecution. They appear in all the collections of Canons. We, however, have taken them from the Oxford edition of the great *Synodicon*, which William Beveridge edited, and we have collated it not only with the Paris edition of Fronto Ducaeus, but also with a bombycine manuscript codex belonging to the most distinguished senator Bernard Nani, as well as the scholia of Theodore Balsamon and Joannes Zonaras interwoven therein. Regarding these Penitential Canons, I would refer you to Tillemont (g). Furthermore, according to the aforementioned Renaudot (h), such testimonies of the Canons are used by the Echmimite, Ebnassalus, Abulfaragius, and other Orientals of whatever sect: among whom, also in those anonymous collections which they call *Responses*, certain fragments from his other works are extant. Likewise, some are cited by the Jacobites in a work which they call *The Faith of the Fathers*. In another work as well, the title of which is *The Precious Pearl*, you may see his homily regarding the baptism of Christ mentioned.
III. As for those fragments from the rest of the holy martyr’s writings which are preserved among the Greeks, we present them all here, collected and placed after his Canons. Namely: 1. An excerpt from his book *On the Deity*, which is extant in the acts of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, with the interpretation by Marius Mercator appended; B 2. another fragment likewise from a homily...
tion; 2. another fragment as well from the homily *On the Coming of the Saviour*, which Leontius of Byzantium cites in book I A *Against Nestorius and Eutyches*; 3. we have subsequently added the letter of the same most blessed bishop to the Church of Alexandria, recently published with other ancient monuments of the Church by the illustrious Scipione Maffei, which the holy prelate is believed to have written after the letter to Meletius, Bishop of Lycopolis, [a letter] composed by the blessed confessors Hesychius, Pachomius, Theodore, and Phileas. Indeed, in that letter, Saint Peter, having forbidden communion with Meletius to the Alexandrians, writes that he will meet with him together with wise men and will see what [those things are] which he has devised, thereby alluding to that Alexandrian synod in which the same Meletius was later deposed from the priesthood. Concerning this very synod, Saint Athanasius has this to say: "Peter, who was bishop among us before the persecution, and a martyr in the persecution, deposed Meletius, who is called B from Egypt bishop," (*Meletium qui ab Ægypto episcopus dicitur, Μελέτιον ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου λεγόμενον ἐπί- σϰοπὸν, multis criminibus convictum, in communi episcoporum synodo deposuit*). Furthermore, concerning the time when the deadly Meletian schism began, the illustrious Maffei defends Baronius’s opinion (linking it to the year 306) against Pagi and Montfaucon, drawing both from this letter of Peter of Alexandria and, primarily, from the other [letter] of the four bishops, which the same holy Father mentions in his own [work], and which we have discussed above as having been composed by Phileas, Bishop of Thmuis. 4. Finally, in [this] place, we bring forward fragments from the *Disputation on the Pasch*, which occur at the threshold of the *Paschal Chronicle*, concerning the sincerity of which we recall having argued elsewhere, where we spoke of St. Claudius Apollinaris. Moreover, to this is added that which confirms the credibility of the author of the same *Paschal Chronicle*, namely that Casaubon brings forth two passages from an ancient manuscript codex pertaining to the same disputation, which you may see described in the same words by that anonymous author, as we have indicated in the notes below.
ACTA SINCERA SANCTI PETRI
OF THE BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA AND MARTYR
ANASTASIUS THE LIBRARIAN AS INTERPRETER.
(From Mai, *Spicilegium* tome III, page 671.)MAY ADMONITION.
That Anastasius the Librarian translated the *Passion of Saint Peter, Bishop of Alexandria* from the Greek is affirmed first by Anastasius himself in his prologue to the *Passion of the Martyrs* MCCCCLXXX, which Mabillon published in his *Museum Italicum*, tome I, part II, p. 80: "after having translated, at the request of your Holiness (he is speaking to Peter, Bishop of Gabii), the *Passion* of the preeminent teacher and martyr Peter, Bishop of the city of Alexandria." Then, the anonymous biographer of Pope John VIII, in Muratori *R. I. S.*, tome II, p. I, p. 269, confirms the same thing: "Anastasius, Librarian of the Roman Church, translated also from Greek into Latin the *Passion* of Saint Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria."
However, because of the diverse *Passions* of Saint Peter that exist, it must be determined by conjecture which one Anastasius translated. For Surius, at November 26, recites certain shorter *Acts*, and he believed them to be by Anastasius because he had read in the codices the prologue to the *Passion* of the martyrs MCCCCLXXX, which we mentioned above; thus Surius uses the same words as Anastasius in the said prologue, namely, "of the preeminent teacher and martyr Peter, Bishop of the city of Alexandria" (or "patriarch," as Surius and the Vatican codex of Queen Christina of Sweden 542, f. 72 b, have it). Yet Baronius, in his annotations to the *Martyrology* of the said day, did not agree with the opinion of Surius, which is supported by no certain argument. For he says thus: "We have other, fuller *Acts* of the same Peter in an old manuscript codex, which, because they are known to be more accurately written, seem more worthy of being attributed to Anastasius, in my opinion. Their beginning is: 'If all my senses.'" (Baronius’s memory slips; he ought to have written, "If all the limbs of my body," just as it is read in our text.) Baronius had already held this same opinion concerning these *Acts* in his *Annales* for the year 310, and he also made diligent use of them to weave together the *History of Peter*. I, therefore, relying on the authority of Baronius, and having been captured further by the excellence of these *Acts*, which I found in a very ancient Vatican codex (602), present this *Passion* of the most celebrated bishop and martyr of the city of Alexandria.
Besides these *Sincere* and *Anastasian* *Acts* of which I have spoken so far, I read other Latin ones in Vatican codex 622, which is also almost as old; yet these are the very ones which Combefis published in Greek in his *Triumphs of the Martyrs*, p. 189 ff., and gave in a new Latin translation because he was ignorant of the original text of the Vatican codex.
There are, therefore, three Acts of the holy martyr Peter of Alexandria: 1. Our truthful and, in the judgment of Baronius, the best of all; 2. Those shorter Latin ones found in Surius; 3. The Greek ones of Combefis, which are the same in Latin in the codex, as we have said, Vat. 622. We, however, shall recite the first and most excellent, which are unpublished A.
THE ACTS BEGIN
If all the joints of my body were turned into tongues, and all the articulated structures of my limbs could utter voices, I would in no way be sufficient to express who, or of what kind, or how great our most blessed Father Peter, archbishop of the Alexandrian see, was. Especially since to commit to papers all the perils of tyrants and the conflicts of the heathens and heretics which he underwent, we deem most especially incongruous, lest we seem to be commending a panegyric of his favor rather than his passions, for the sake of which he strove manfully to save the people acquired for God by his own shining effort. Nevertheless, because reason fails in narrating the praises of his intimate conversation and wonderful action, and speech is in no way sufficient, we deem it convenient to describe only those things by which he is clearly shown to have ascended to the summit of the pontificate, and, having cut off Arius from the catholic unity, to have been crowned with the laurels of martyrdom. Yet I believe that to set forth this glorious end, a mirror of his magnificent struggle, is worthwhile for those who attend to our devotion and do not doubt our truthful narration, devoid of the pretext of falsehood. B Therefore, beginning the episcopal exordium of this most holy man, let us seek his own prayer, that we may rejoice to have him as a helper in our style.
Alexandria, therefore, is a city of copious magnitude, which holds the primacy not only of the Egyptians, but also of the Thebans and Libyans not far from Egypt. The cycle of two hundred and eighty-five years of the salutary incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ was revolving, when the venerable Theonas, Pope of the same city, ascended to the celestial kingdoms by a heavenly flight [b]. To him, indeed, the aforementioned Peter succeeded in administering the helms of the Church, and was ordained pontiff by all the clergy and the Christian people, being the sixteenth from Mark the evangelist and at the same time archbishop of the same B city. For he, rising like Lucifer among the stars, shining with the rays of holy virtues, governed the citadel of the faith most magnificently. In the divine Scriptures, inferior to none of his predecessors, he insisted nobly upon the utility and instruction of the Church; he possessed singular prudence, and was perfect in all things, truly a priest and host of God, towards the throne Achillas, and after him Alexander; and he anathematized the impious Arius. C He also commemorated his brother bishops, Phyleus and Hesychius, and Pachomius and Theodore, who had been cast into chains at the time when he himself was absent in Mesopotamia, and had received the crown of martyrdom together with the clerics, more than 660. He also exhorted his own to beware of Meletius the Lycopolitan, who was lacerating the Church and laying snares for the good. Peter was led from prison to the place which they call the Bucolia, where St. Mark the evangelist had suffered. On the way, an old man and an old woman, descending from the citadel to the town, met him and offered him a square cloak and a linen cloth. D When they had arrived further to the south at the place of the martyrdom of St. Mark, in the valley stretching toward the plain of the sepulchers, the tribunes ordered Peter’s head to be cut off. When the people learned that the archbishop had been killed at night and in a more remote place, great crowds were born. Contention also arose among the people regarding his body, while some wished to bury him in the church of Theonas, others in the place consecrated to St. Mark. But the leaders of the city, senatorial men from the Dromos, fearing lest a sedition arise, carried his body, wrapped in that cloak, to a boat, since the place lay by the sea, and having sailed around the Pharos, they landed at the place called Leucates; there they placed it in a cemetery which he himself had built for himself in the suburb on the western side of the city. But the people did not allow him to be buried before they had placed the deceased upon the episcopal throne in the church, with the clergy accompanying him, after which they buried him in linen and holoserica with aromatics. EDIT. PATR.
A all concern for the priesthood he labored day and night.
But since virtue is always struck by zeal, and lightning strikes the highest mountains, he suffered manifold conflicts from rivals here and there. Need more be said? He spent almost the entire time of his life in persecution. In the meantime, he ordained fifty-five bishops. Finally, Meletius—dark in name and mind—became a schismatic prelate in the city of Lycopolis; doing many things against the rule of the canons, and even surpassing the cruelty of bloodthirsty soldiers—who, at the Lord’s passion, feared to rend the Lord’s tunic—he was carried away with such loosened reins of insanity that, rending the Catholic Church, he ordained his own followers as bishops not only throughout the cities of Egypt but also through its villages, and he had no concern for Peter, nor indeed for Christ who was in Peter. Arius, previously mentioned, stuck to him while still a layman, not yet marked with the clerical tonsure, and was very dear to him and his house; and not without cause: every animal, as scripture says, loves what is like itself. But when these things were known, the man of God, consumed with grief, said that this persecution was worse than the former. And although hidden in certain refuges, yet with all his might he sent exhortatory letters everywhere and, preaching the unity of the Church, stirred them up against the ignorance and wicked temerity of Meletius. Whence it happened that not a few, animated by his salutary warnings, departed from the Meletian impiety.
At about the same time, Arius, armed with viperous cunning, as if abandoning the Meletians, fled to Peter, who, requested by the bishops, elevated him with the honor of the diaconate, ignorant of course of such hypocrisy of his. He was however, like a viper, filled with pestiferous poison. For the imposition of hands of this kind could not be reckoned as a crime against this holy man, just as the magical art of Simon is not imputed to Philip. In the meantime, the detestable evil of the Meletians grew beyond measure, and the most blessed Peter, fearing lest the heretical pestilence invade the whole flock committed to him, and knowing at the same time that there is no fellowship between light and darkness, and no concord between Christ and Belial, separated the Meletians from the Church by letters. And because an evil will cannot be hidden for long, the most wicked Arius, immediately, because he saw his own supporters detached from the dignity of the Church, was handed over to sadness and lamented. This did not escape the holy man at all. For his hypocrisy having been exposed, immediately using the evangelical sword—"If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee"—he expelled Arius from the fabric of the Church, as a rotten member, and commanded that he be excluded from the communion of the faithful.
These things having been done, the storm of persecution suddenly subsided and peace, though slight, shone forth. Then the most elegant pontiff of the Lord, appearing to the people, B illuminated, and the faithful began to run in crowds to the memorials of the martyrs, and to gather for the praise of Christ; those whom the minister of divine law quickened, raised up, and strengthened by divine oracle, and the multitude of believers in the Church grew steadily. But the enemy of human salvation, beholding these things with no fair eyes, did not rest for long. For suddenly the whirlwind of paganism thundered from the opposite direction and, like a winter storm, struck the serenity of the Church and drove it far away. But so that this might be understood more clearly, we must necessarily turn our attention to the atrocity of the most impious and God-rebellious Diocletian, and likewise of Maximian Galerius, who at that time, with his son Maximinus, was vexing the Oriental regions with tyrannical rule.
For in his times the fire of Christian persecution blazed so high that the storm of impiety thundered not only in one climate of the world, but also throughout the entire globe, on land and sea. And so, with imperial edicts and most cruel decrees running here and there, the worshippers of Christ were slaughtered, now openly, now by clandestine plots; for no day and no night passed immune from the shedding of Christian blood. Nor was the form of slaughter merely simple; some indeed were killed by diverse and most bitter tortures; others, however, so that they might even lack the humanity of parental and ancestral burial, were transferred to other places, and were forced to the goal of martyrdom by new and unheard-of machines of punishment. Alas! So great was their impiety that they even overturned from their foundations the sanctuaries of divine worship and burned the holy books with fire. Therefore, Diocletian of execrable memory having died, Constantine the Great was elected to the helm of the kingdom, and began to govern the reins of his principality in the Western parts.
In those days, indeed, it was reported to Maximinus [(a)] by certain persons concerning the aforementioned archbishop, namely that he himself was the leader and standard-bearer of Christianity; who, inflamed with his customary wickedness, immediately ordered Peter to be seized and cast into prison. For which reason he sent five tribunes, surrounded by crowds of soldiers, to Alexandria; who, coming according to what had been commanded to them, suddenly seizing the pontiff of Christ, handed him over to prison custody. Wonderful was the devotion of the faithful! Where it was discovered that so great a man was being locked in prison cells, an incredibly large multitude ran there, especially a chorus of monks and virgins, and not with material arms, but with rivers of tears and the affection of a pious mind, they surrounded the circuit of the prison, and as good children towards a good father, indeed as Christian members to a most Christian head, they clung with all the bowels of compassion, and were a wall for him, watching that no one of the pagans might have access to enter in to him. There was, indeed, the vote of all, [(a)] note: our author most correctly places the passion of Peter under Maximinus, not under Diocletian, which that Greek biographer published by Combefis does.
A one voice, and the same compassion, seeing that they would rather die than suffer any evil to befall the saint. But the man of the Lord, having been held confined in the same bonds for a few days, the tribunes made a report about him to the king; and he, according to the custom of his ferocity, determined a sentence that they should punish the most blessed patriarch with a capital penalty. Furthermore, while this was creeping through the ears of the Christians, all began unanimously to guard the entrance to the prison with mourning and groaning, and, resisting, allowed no one of the Gentiles to enter it. But the tribunes, since they had no access to kill him, having held a council, decided that all the soldiers, with bared swords, should break through the popular crowd, and thus drag him out, if only to be decapitated; but soon, if anyone wanted to resist, he should die by the sword.
Arius meanwhile, still honored only by the Levitical title B, fearing that after the departure of such a Father he might by no means be able to be reconciled, approached those who were nobler in the clergy, and with tearful pleading and flattering speech, as a simulator, he endeavored to persuade the holy archbishop to indulge him in mercy and release him from such an obligation. But what is more deceitful than a feigned heart? What is simpler than a holy composition? Without delay, those who had been asked approached the pontiff of Christ, and after the customary prayer, prostrate on the ground with groaning and tears, kissing his sacred hands, they begged him, saying: "You, most blessed Father, according to the dignity of the faith, the Lord has called to the crown of martyrdom, which we do not at all doubt you will receive very soon. Therefore, we think it just that you indulge Arius with your accustomed piety, and grant forgiveness to his weeping."
Having heard these things, the man of the Lord pushed them away with indignation, and raising his hands aloft, exclaiming, he said: "Do you dare to plead with me for Arius? Arius, both here and in the future age, will always be separated from the glory of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, and will always remain an outcast C." As he protested this, all who were present, struck with fear, kept silent like mutes. Furthermore, they suspected that it was not without divine inspiration that he brought forth such a sentence against Arius. And as the most clement Father looked upon them, silent and sorrowful through the compunction of his heart, he did not wish to remain austere, or to leave them as if scorning them without satisfaction; but taking Achillas and Alexander, who seemed to be the eldest and holiest among the priests, having one of them on his right and the other on his left, he separated them a little from the others, and with low voice said to them: "Do not, my brothers, consider me inhuman and rigid; for in truth I am also a man living under the law of sin; but believe my words. The hidden deceit of Arius surpasses all iniquity, and exceeds every impiety; and not asserting this from myself, I have decreed his D segregation. For this very night, while I was solemnly pouring out prayers to God, there stood by me a certain boy, about twelve years old, whose brightness of face I could not bear, for this entire cell in which we stand was radiating with an immense light. He, however, was clothed in a linen tunic, torn on both sides from the neck to the feet, and holding the tears of the tunic with both hands, he was applying them to his breast, in such a way that he covered his own nakedness. At this vision, indeed, I was amazed and stood dumbfounded. Soon after confidence of speaking was given to me, I exclaimed, saying: 'Lord, who tore this garment for you?' And he: 'Arius tore me, but guard yourself completely so that you do not receive him into communion; for behold, on the morrow, those will come who will plead with you for him. See, therefore, that you are not persuaded to agree with them; but rather command Achillas and Alexander, the priests, who after your passage are to rule my Church, not to receive him in any way. You, however, are soon to fulfill the lot of martyrdom.' There was no other cause for this vision. Behold, I have satisfied you, and I have reported entirely what was commanded. But as for what you will do from these things, that is for you to decide. And these things indeed concerning Arius."
Furthermore, you know, dearly beloved, and you know well, how I have conversed with you up to this point, and how many conflicts I have endured from the idolatrous Gentiles, who, ignorant of the Lord Savior, do not cease to rave and malign the multitude of gods that are not. You know indeed how, by avoiding the rabies of the persecutors, I went as a fugitive from place to place. For I spent a great deal of time hiding in Mesopotamia, and likewise I stayed in Syria of Phoenicia, and in both Palestines I endured a long pilgrimage; and from there, so to speak, I stayed in another element, that is, in the islands, for no small time. And living in all these calamities, I did not cease to write day and night to the Lord's flock which is committed to my lowliness, confirming them in the unity of Christ. For the anxious concern for them was diligently pricking my heart and did not allow me to rest; I only thought that I was slightly better off when I committed them to the supreme power. Now, however, because of the fortunate pontiffs, I mean Phileas, Hesychius, and Theodore, who were worthily called by divine grace, how grave my...
A tribulation was! For those men, as you yourselves know, because of their faith in Christ, were tormented with various punishments along with the rest of the confessors. And because in such a struggle they were the standard-bearers and teachers not only of the clergy but also of the laity, I was greatly afraid lest they should collapse under their long tortures, and because their defection—a thing grievous to speak of—would be a source of offense for many to deny the faith; for there were over six hundred and sixty who were being confined with them in prison dungeons. Whence, struggling with great labor and great sweat, I did not cease to write to all of them from the aforementioned places, exhorting them to the palm of martyrdom by the teaching of the divine word. But when I heard of the magnificent perseverance and the glorious end of the passion of them all, falling to the ground I adored the majesty of Christ, who deigned to number them among the ranks of the martyrs.
What more shall I recount to you concerning Meletius of Lycopolis? That he has hurled such persecutions and such deceits at me, I do not doubt that you know in every way. O, shame! He did not fear to rend the sacrosanct Church, which the Son of God redeemed with His precious blood, and for whose liberation from the tyranny of the devil He did not hesitate to lay down His soul. This church, as I began to say, the most wicked Meletius, rending it, did not cease to assault and afflict even the holy bishops, who a little before had penetrated the heavens through martyrdom, while they were in the custody of prison. Beware, therefore, of his snares. For I, as you yourselves see, bound by divine charity, proceed, placing the will of God before all things. I know indeed that the tribunes are whispering, trembling because of my execution, but I shall offer them no speech concerning this, nor shall I make my soul more precious than myself. Nay, rather, I am prepared to complete the course which my Lord Jesus Christ has deigned to promise me, and to assign to Him faithfully the ministry which I have received from Him. Pray for me, brothers; you shall no longer see me living with you in this life. Wherefore I testify before God and your fraternity that I have kept a clean conscience toward all of you. For I have not shied away from announcing to you the things that were enjoined upon me by the Lord, and I have not refused to disclose the things that will be necessary hereafter.
Wherefore attend to yourselves and to the entire flock, in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops in succession: you, Achillas, first, and Alexander second. See, I protest to you with a living voice, that after my passing some will arise from the Church speaking perverse things, and will again divide it, like Meletius, dragging the people after their own insanity. Behold, I have foretold this to you. But I beseech you, O my own bowels, watch; for you must undergo many B tribulations. For we are no better than our fathers. Are you ignorant of how much my father suffered from the pagans, he who nurtured me, the most holy Bishop Theonas, whose pontifical chair I took up? I wish we had his character, too! And what shall I say of the great Dionysius, his predecessor? Who, as a fugitive from place to place, endured many calamities from the insane Sabellius? Nor let me pass you over, most holy Fathers and guardians of the divine law, Heraclas and Demetrius, upon whom Origen, the fabricator of a perverse dogma, heaped many various trials; he who cast into the Church a detestable schism, which confuses it even to this day. But the grace of God, which then protected them—for I believe that it will protect you also. But why do I detain you further, dearest brothers, with a prolix discourse? It is enough that I follow you with the final prayer of the Apostle, so praying: and now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, who is powerful to govern both you and His flock. When he had said these things, having knelt down, he prayed with them. And so, the prayer being completed, Achillas and Alexander, kissing his hands and feet, were shaken into tears with bitter sobbing, especially because they had heard him say that they would never again see his earthly life. Then the most sweet doctor, coming to the rest of the clergy, who, as has been said before, had entered for Arius, spoke to them the last and comforting words and those things which were necessary; then, having poured out prayers to God, bidding them farewell, he dismissed C everyone in peace.
With these things thus performed, it was bruited far and wide everywhere that Arius had not been cut off from the Catholic unity without a divine decree. But he, that artificer of deception and sower of all wickedness, did not cease to hide the viperous poison in the labyrinth of his breast, hoping to be reconciled by Achillas or Alexander. This is that Arius, the arch-heretic, the divider of the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity. This is he who with a rash mouth did not fear to blaspheme the Lord Savior above all heretics—the Lord, I say, the Savior, who, pitying human errors and grieving that the world should perish in the destruction of deadly condemnation, deigned to suffer in the flesh for us all. D For the divinity, which is in any case impassable, is not to be believed to have incurred passion. But because the theological Fathers have taken care to remove such blasphemies far from Catholic ears with a better style, and something else awaits us, let us return to the proposed subject. The most sagacious pontiff, therefore, observing the most bloody ruse of the tribunes, that for the sake of his execution they wished to slaughter the whole multitude of Christians who were then present with the sword—
he was unwilling that they should suffer with him the bitterness of death. But the faithful servant, imitating the Lord and Savior, who both spoke and acted saying, *The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep* (John 10:11), out of a motive of piety called one of the elders from among those who remained attached to his responses and said to him: "Go to the tribunes who seek to kill me, and say to A them: Let all anxiety cease; behold, I am ready to offer myself to them willingly. For on this night let them come behind the back of this prison house, and in the place where they hear a sign made in the wall from within, there let them dig, receive me, and carry out what was commanded them." The elder, submitting to the orders of the most holy man (for he could not contradict so great a Father), went to the tribunes and announced to them what had been enjoined him. Hearing this, they rejoiced greatly, and taking stonemasons, they came about the dawn of that night, without soldiers, to the place that had been shown to them. But the man of God had spent the whole night sleepless, keeping vigil in prayer. And when he learned of their arrival, since all who were with him were resting in sleep, he stepped with a slow pace into the inner part of the prison and, according to the agreed sign, made a sound on the wall. Hearing it from the outside, they made a hole and received the athlete of Christ, fortified on all sides not by a bronze breastplate, but by the power of the Lord’s cross, and prepared to fulfill the divine word which says: *Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell* (Matt. 10:28). A wondrous thing! Such a violent whirlwind of showers and clashing of winds roared on that same night that none of those who were guarding the prison doors could hear the sound of the digging. But the most constant martyr urged those homicides: "Do," he said, "what you are about to do, before those who were guarding me notice this." B
And they, taking him, led him to the place which is called Bucolia, where the holy Mark also underwent martyrdom for Christ. Wondrous is the virtue of the saints! As they were leading him and beheld his great constancy amidst funereal circumstances and such strength of mind, a sudden, horrid dread and fearful trembling seized them, so much so that no one among them dared to look him in the face. Moreover, the most blessed martyr begged that they might let him go to the memorial of the holy evangelist Mark, for he desired to commend himself to his patronage. And they, out of confusion of shame, looking at the ground, said: "Do what you wish, only do it more quickly." Approaching, therefore, he embraced the most sacred cemetery of the evangelist and, as if speaking to one living in the flesh and listening, prayed in this way: "Most honorable Father, you who are the evangelist of the only-begotten Savior, you who are the witness of his sufferings, you who were the first bishop and the foundation of the cathedra, Christ enabled the proclamation of his C redeemer to resound through all Egypt and its surrounding territories. You, I say, have vigilantly fulfilled the ministry of human salvation which had been entrusted to you; deservedly, indeed, you merited to receive the palm of martyrdom as the reward for this labor. Hence, you are not undeservedly worthy to be proclaimed both evangelist and bishop. Your successor, indeed, was Anianus, and the others in the successive series down to the most blessed Theonas, who deigned to give cuffs to my childhood and to nurture my character. To whom also I, D a sinner and unworthy, have become a successor in the hereditary rank beyond my merit. And what is most important, behold, the bounty of the Lord’s piety has granted me to become a martyr of his precious cross and festive resurrection, bestowing upon my devotion the pleasant odor of his passion, so that I also may be deemed worthy to offer the sacrifice of my own blood to him. And because the critical moment for such a libation presses, pray for me that, with divine power assisting, I may deserve to complete the stadium of this contest with a robust heart and the most ready faith. I also commend to your glorious fatherhood the flock of Christ which has been committed to me in pastoral rule; to you, I say, I commend it, you who are proven to be the author and guardian of all who preceded and followed in this pontifical throne, and you who, having its primacy, are the successor not of man, but of God and man, Jesus Christ." And saying these things, with his footsteps not far removed from the sacred tomb and his hands extended to heaven, he prayed with a loud voice: "Only-begotten Word of the eternal Father, Jesus Christ, hear me, your interceding mercy; pacify, I beseech you, the tempest of your Church; conclude the persecution of your people with the shedding of the blood of me, your servant." Then a certain virgin dedicated to God, who had a small dwelling place contiguous to the cemetery of this evangelist, spending the night in prayer, heard a voice from heaven saying: "Peter the beginning of the apostles, Peter the end of the martyr-bishops of Alexandria."
Having completed his prayer, kissing the tomb of the blessed evangelist and the other pontiffs who were buried therein, he went out to the tribunes. But they, seeing his face as the face of an angel, struck with terror, feared to speak to him about the imminent contest. Nevertheless, because God does not desert those who hope in him, he did not wish to leave his martyr destitute of solace at the moment of such great danger. Behold, a certain old man and a certain old virgin coming from the towns were hurrying into the city, one of whom was carrying four skins for sale, and the other also two linen cloths. Beholding them, the blessed bishop recognized the divine dispensation regarding himself. Immediately he inquired, saying: "Are you Christians?" And they said: "Yes." And he said: "Where are you going?" And they: "To the city markets," they said, "to sell these things which we bring." Clemen-
ti, said: "Where are you going?" And they: "To the city markets," they said, "to sell these things which we bring." ClemenAtissimus, however, the Father added: "Little children, my faithful ones, God has destined you; persevere with me." Who, immediately recognizing him, said: "As you have commanded, Lord." And turning to the tribunes: "Come, do," he said, "what you are about to do, fulfilling the royal command, since the day has already begun to dawn." They, however, as if suffering violence on account of the prince’s wicked decrees, took him from the region of the evangelist's sanctuary to the valley near the tombs. And the saint said: "Spread out, O elders, the skins which you have brought, and you as well, old woman, the shrouds." When these were spread out, the most robust martyr, ascending upon them, stretched his hands both upward and, bending his knees to the earth, his mind also intent upon heaven, he paid expressions of gratitude to the omnipotent Giver of the prize, and arming himself with the sign of the cross, he said, "Amen." Then loosening the omophorion from his neck, he stretched out his neck: "What was commanded to you," he said, "carry out more quickly." Meanwhile, the hands of the tribunes grew stiff, and looking at one another, they provoked one another to this deed; but all, seized by dread, stood stupefied. At length, by mutual consent, it pleased them that the reward of the execution be put together from the common treasury, and if anyone dared to perpetrate such a crime, he himself would reap the profit of the homicide. No delay; each one of them brought out five solidi. Truly, as the pagan poet says:
... To what do you not drive mortal hearts, Accursed hunger for gold!
One of them, in the rite of the traitor Judas, made bold by greed for money, with drawn sword cut off the head of the pontiff of Christ, to wit, on the seventh day before the Kalends of December, when he had held the pontificate for twelve years, three of which he spent before the persecution, and the remaining nine in various kinds of persecutions. Thereafter, the price of blood having been taken away by the executioner, the evil buyers, or rather, bloody murderers, withdrew with all possible speed, for they feared the multitude of the people, since, as has been set forth, they were without a military guard. The body of the most blessed martyr, however, just as the fathers who were the first to arrive there affirmed, remained standing as if intent on prayer, until many, flocking together, found it standing in the same manner; indeed, what he had often done while living, his dead flesh also testified. They also found the old man and that old woman watching with mourning and groaning for the most precious jewel of the Church. Therefore, gathering up the triumphal funeral, and placing the sacred head against the neck, they covered it with shrouds; but the sacred blood which had flowed nearby, they reverently collected.
B Meanwhile, an innumerable crowd of both sexes, rushing together from the populous city, weeping and wailing, asked one another, not knowing how this had happened. For in truth, from the least to the greatest, a very sharp weeping bedewed them all. For when the leading men of the city saw the praiseworthy persistence of the multitude, who were eager to tear away his sacred remains for the sake of relics, they enveloped him in those skins and shrouds and bound him more securely. For the most holy minister of God was always clothed in white priestly garments, that is, a tunic and a colobium and also an omophorion. After this, therefore, there arose not a small contention among them; for some were eager to carry the most sacred limbs into the church which he himself had built, where he also now rests; others, however, struggled to carry him to the sanctuary of the evangelist, where he had completed the goal of his martyrdom: and while neither part would yield to the other, they began to turn the religious duty into the strife of a fight. Meanwhile, a spirited phalanx of senators, of those who are called by the name of *cursus*, seeing what had occurred—for they were near the sea—prepared a boat, and suddenly seizing the sacred remains, they placed them into the small ship, and embarking behind the Pharos, through the place which has the name Leucado, they arrived at the church of the most blessed Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, which, as we had begun to say, he himself had constructed on the western side on account of the cemeteries of the martyrs in a certain courtyard. Then the crowds of people, as if having seized a heavenly treasure for themselves, followed some by the roads, others by whatever byways there were, in rapid runs. Who, finally arriving, no longer argued about where he should be placed, but by a common and not unpraiseworthy plan, they decreed first to place him on his own cathedra, and thus at last to commit him to burial.
C And this, most prudent reader, I do not wish you to think of as an idle delusion; since if you learn the cause of this novelty, you will admire and approve of the praiseworthy zeal of the people. For when this blessed prelate was celebrating the sacraments of the divine mystery, he did not, as the ecclesiastical custom has it, sit in the pontifical throne, but in the footstool beneath it; which the people, watching, took ill, and complaining, they cried out: "It is fitting, O Father, that you sit in your cathedra"; and when they repeated this same thing again and again, the minister of the Lord, rising, would calm such complaints with a calm voice, and would sit again on that same footstool. But to all, it seemed that this was done for the sake of humility. Moreover, on a certain day of a great festival, when he was administering the sacred solemnities of the Mass, and wished to do such a thing, not only the people, but the clergy also cried out with a harmonious voice—
they said: "Sit in your seat, O bishop." But he, conscious of a certain mystery, dissimulated hearing this; and by giving a sign to be silent, for no one dared to resist him persistently, he made everyone silent, and nevertheless sat upon the pedestal of the same seat; and having celebrated the solemnities of the Mass according to custom, each of the faithful returned to his own.
The man of the Lord, however, having summoned the clergy, calm in his inner serenity, chided them for their rashness: "Why," said he, "did you not blush to urge me on, joined by the voices of the laity? Yet because such a chiding did not flow from the muddy torrent of vanity, but from a most pure fountain of love, I will reveal to you the secret of this mystery. For very often, when I wish to approach that throne, I see a certain power A sitting on it, radiant with a brilliance of light. Immediately, therefore, suspended between joy and fear, I recognize that I am entirely unworthy of such a seat; and had I not hesitated to bring a source of scandal to the people, there is no doubt that I would not have dared to sit even on the pedestal. Hence it is, dearest sons, that I seem to you to exceed the pontifical rule in this. But yet, many times when I see it vacant, as you yourselves are witnesses, I do not refuse to sit in it after my customary manner. Wherefore, knowing this mystery, and holding it for certain and proven that, if it be granted to me, I shall sit upon it—not disparaging the dignity of the order—cease now from fostering further popular outcries." This, indeed, the most holy Father, while he was still living, was forced to explain to the sacred clergy. B
Reminiscing upon these things with pious devotion, the faithful of Christ took his most sacred body and had it placed upon the episcopal throne. So great, finally, was the joy and so great the exultation bestowed from heaven upon the people, as if they were observing him animate and alive. Then, anointing him with fragrant aromatics, they clothed him in silk vestments; for each one thought it his greatest gain to anticipate in offering what he could. Then, carrying victory signs and palms, with flaming candles, resonant hymns, and fragrant incense, celebrating the triumph of his heavenly victory, they laid down the holy relics C and buried them in the cemetery which had long ago been built by him, where from that time and unto this day the wonders of his virtues do not cease. For pious vows are gladdened by success in being heard, and the restoration of the health of the infirm, and the expulsions of unclean spirits, bear witness to the merit of the martyr. These gifts, Lord Jesus, are thine, to whom it is a custom to magnify thy martyrs more successfully after the exit of death; who with the Father and the consubstantial Holy Spirit livest and reignest for endless ages of ages. Amen (b).
After this, by what means the weaver of deceit, the wolf—that is, Arius—hidden under a sheepskin, entered to mangle the Lord’s sheepfold, or in what manner he was able to usurp the dignity of the priesthood, we shall endeavor to insinuate in a brief account. And this not for the disparagement of those who, because of the tares of apostatic contagion, dared to recall to the floor of the Lord’s harvest the one cast out by the heavenly winnowing fan; for these were without doubt held to be distinguished in holiness, yet, disparaging the belief in so great a man, they transgressed the prohibitions of the divine command. What then? Do we condemn them? By no means. D For as long as this corruptible body weighs us down and our earthly habitation depresses the sense of our infirmity, many, while thinking, are more easily deceived, judging that to be just which is unjust, and that chaste which is incestuous. The Gibeonites, to be utterly destroyed by heavenly denunciation, when they had one thing in their vow and held forth another in word and demeanor, were able to deceive all the more quickly the very just divider of the land of promise, Jesus. David also, full of the prophetic spirit, when he listened to the words of the lying boy (c); although by an inscrutable and just judgment of God, he did something far different than the situation actually was. What, indeed, is more sublime than the apostles, who did not hesitate to separate themselves from our weakness? For one of them describes: "In many things we all offend" (Jas. iii, 2). Another also: "If we say," he says, "that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John i, 8). But when we repent of these things, we obtain pardon all the more easily, when we have sinned not by will but by ignorance or frailty. And certainly an offense of this kind proceeded not from the affect of prevarication, but from an indulgence of compassion. But we leave it to others to write an apologia concerning these things (d); we, however, shall do what is at hand. After, therefore, the magnificent champion Peter, worthy of his name, through the triumph of martyrdom….
The rest is missing.