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History of the Martyrs in Palestine
Eusebius of Caesarea, tr. Cureton, 1861; longer recension
The Confession of Procopius
In the first year of the persecution in our days.1
The first of all the martyrs who appeared in Palestine was named Procopius.2 In truth he was a godly man, for even before his confession he had given up his life to great endurance: and from the time that he was a little boy had been of pure habits, and of strict morals: and by the vigour of his mind he had so brought his body into subjection, that, even before his death, his soul seemed to dwell in a body completely mortified, and he had so strengthened his soul by the word of God that his body also was sustained by the power of God. His food was bread only, and his drink water; and he took nothing else besides these two. Occasionally he took food every second day only, and sometimes every third day; oftentimes too he passed a whole week without food. But he never ceased day nor night from the study of the word of God: and at the same time he was careful as to his manners and modesty of conduct, so that he edified by his meekness and piety all those of his own standing. And while his chief application was devoted to divine subjects, he was acquainted also in no slight degree with natural science. His family was from Baishan;3 and he ministered in the orders of the Church in three things:—First, he had been a Reader; and in the second order he translated from Greek into Aramaic;4 and in the last, which is even more excellent than the preceding, he opposed the powers of the evil one, and the devils trembled before him. Now it happened that he was sent from Baishan to our city Cæsarea, together with his brother confessors. And at the very moment that he passed the gates of the city they brought him before the Governor: and immediately upon his first entrance the judge, whose name was Flavianus,5 said to him: It is necessary that thou shouldest sacrifice to the gods: but he replied with a loud voice, There is no God but one only, the Maker and Creator of all things. And when the judge felt himself smitten by the blow of the martyr’s words, he furnished himself with arms of another kind against the doctrine of truth, and, abandoning his former order, commanded him to sacrifice to the emperors, who were four in number;6 but the holy martyr of God laughed still more at this saying, and repeated the words of the greatest of poets of the Greeks,7 which he said that “the rule of many is not good: let there be one ruler and one sovereign.” And on account of his answer, which was insulting to the emperors, he, though alive in his conduct, was delivered over to death, and forthwith the head of this blessed man was struck off, and an easy transit afforded him along the way to heaven. And this took place on the seventh day of the month Heziran,8 in the first year of the persecution in our days. This confessor was the first who was consummated in our city Cæsarea.
Notes
- “The first year of the persecution in our days.” The preface to the account of the Martyrs of Palestine, in the eighth book of Ecc. Hist., says this was the 19th year of Diocletian, or A.D. 303. See Ruinart Acta primorum Martt. p. 316.
- “Procopius.” There is an antient Latin copy of these Acts, as they stand here, published by Valesius in his notes upon the first chapter of the Martyrs of Palestine as they exist in the Greek at the end of the eighth book of the Eccl. Hist. of Eusebius. Respecting these, he writes thus:—“The same relation is in the Acts of the Passion of Procopius the Martyr, which begins thus: ‘The first of the Martyrs that appeared in Palestine was Procopius,’ &c. From whence it is evident that those acts were translated out of the Greek copy of Eusebius into Latin. To make this more apparent, it will in no wise be unuseful to insert here the entire acts. For many things worth our knowledge are contained in these which neither Baronius nor Molanus happened to have a sight of.”
Passio Sancti Procopii Martyris, qui passus est sub Fabiano judice 4 Nonas Augusti.
Primus martyrum qui sunt in Palæstina, apparuit Procopius, vir cœlestis gratiæ, qui et ante martyrium sic suam vitam disposuit, ut etiam a parva ætate castitati semper et morum virtutibus studeret. Corpus quidem suum sic confecit, ut pæne mortuum putaretur, animam vero ejus sic verbis confortabat divinis, ut etiam corpori virtutem ex hujus refectione ministraret. Cibus et potus ei panis et aqua fuit. Solis his utebatur, cum post biduum triduumque, diem interdum etiam post septimam ad cibum rediret. Sacrorum quoque meditatio sermonum ita mentem ejus obstrinxerat, ut nocte ac die in hoc infatigabilis permaneret. Clementiæ autem et mansuetudinis tanquam ceteris inferior documentum sui præbebat copiam. In verbis divinis ei tantum studium erat. Illa vero quæ extrinsecus sunt, mediocriter attigerat. Igitur genere quidem Æliensis, conversatione autem vel habitatione Scythopolitanus erat. Ibi ecclesiæ tria ministeria præbebat, unum in legendi officio, alterum in Syri interpretatione sermonis, et tertium adversus dæmones manus impositione consummans. Cumque ab Scythopoli una cum sociis in Cæsaream transmissus fuisset, ab ipsis portis ad præsidem ducitur, et priusquam carceris vel vinculorum experiretur angustias, in ipso ingressu suo a judice Flaviano ut diis sacrificaret impellitur. At ille magna voce non esse deos multos sed unum factorem omnium opificemque testatus est. Judex autem plaga sermonis ictus et conscientia saucius, consensit ejus sermoni. Atque ad alia se rursum argumenta constituit, ut vel regibus sacrificaret. Sanctus autem Dei martyr sermonem ejus despiciens, Homeri, inquit, versum dicens: non est bonum multos dominos esse. Unus dominus est, unus rex. Itaque hoc verbo ejus audito, quasi qui infausta in regibus deprompsisset, jussu judicis ducitur ad mortem, et capite amputato ingressum vitæ cœlestis, vel compendium beatus invenit: Desii septima Julii mensis, quæ Nonas Julias dicitur apud Latinos, primo anno quo adversus nos fuit persecutio. Hoc primum in Cæsarea martyrium consummatum est, regnante Domino nostro Jesu Christo, cui honor et gloria in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
And in a note following this Latin copy he writes (c)—“Many things are omitted in the Greek text of Eusebius, which must be made perfect by these Acts in Latin. For when Eusebius had here said expressly, that Procopius upon his first arrival was brought before the judge, he adds nothing concerning the place from whence he came, where he was apprehended, or to what place he was brought: nothing of which ought to have been omitted. Besides, Eusebius does accurately relate the descent and country of other Martyrs mentioned in this book; and if any of these had attained to any Ecclesiastical honour, he does usually take notice of that also. But of this person, who was the chief and leader of all the Palestine Martyrs, we see no such relation made. This, it is probable, was not the fault of Eusebius, but of his exscribers; for in the Latin Acts, which, as we before evinced, were translated out of Eusebius, all these circumstances are manifestly declared.” See Ecc. Hist. Eng. Trans., p. 154. This Latin version is also printed by Th. Ruinart, p. 353, Acta primorum Martyrum Sincera et Selecta, fol. Amstel. 1713. There is also another Syriac version of these Acts taken from Cod. Nit. Vat. 1. (See Assemani, Bibl. Orient. vol. 1. p. 56); and published with a Latin translation and notes, by S. E. Assemani, in Acta SS. Martt. Orient. et Occident., 2 vol. fol. Romæ, 1748, part ii. p. 169. I have collated it with this version. It is not of importance to note the variants, which seem to be chiefly due to separate translations. - “His family was from Baishan.” The Latin has—“Igitur genere quidem Æliensis, conversatione autem vel habitatione Scythopolitanus erat,” with which the other Syriac agrees in reading, ܓܢܣܗ ܕܝܢ ܡܢ ܐܘܪܫܠܡ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܗܘܐ ܘܒܒܝܫܢ ܡܕܝܢܬܐ ܥܡܪ ܗܘܐ—“But his family was from Jerusalem, and he dwelt in the city Baishan.” Scythopolis was the Greek name of Baishan, and Ælia occupied the scite of Jerusalem. See, respecting Baishan, S. E. Assemani, Ibid, not. p. 171.
- “In the second order he translated from Greek into Aramaic.” He was an interpreter; on which passage S. E. Assemani observes—“Ad munus interpretis recte adnotat Valesius, apud Syros olim Divinas Scripturas Græce fuisse lectitatas, quas deinde Interpres Syriacus redderet,” Ibid. p. ii. p. 171. I should feel much disposed to question this assertion without greater proof. Doubtless before this time the Scriptures were translated into Syriac. The meaning of the passage may also imply that Procopius was engaged in translating other ecclesiastical works into Syriac from the Greek. This very copy of Eusebius was transcribed only 108 years after the Martyrdom of Procopius. Ibid. p. 166. S. E. Assemani gives his opinion in these words:—“Imo vero quum S. Procopius Sanctorum librorum a Græco in Syriacum sermonem in ecclesia Scythopolitana Interpres dicatur, plane inde colligitur, Syriacum seu Chaldaicum idioma Palæstinis tunc vernaculum fuisse, atque adeo ejusdem Procopii, quemadmodum et aliorum martyrum in Palæstina coronatorum, Acta Syriace seu Chaldaice ab Eusebio fuisse primum exarata, eademque ipsa esse, quæ præ manibus habemus, omnino tenendum est. Neque enim verisimile est, Eusebium, quam in usum popularium suorum, et in ovium sibi concreditarum solatium scribebat, martyrum historiam iis literis consignasse, quas omnes non callerent.” Ibid. p. 166.
- “Flavianus.” The other Syriac has ܦܘܠܝܢܘܣ Paulinus, evidently a mistake of the scribe.
- “The Emperors, who were four in number.” These were Diocletianus, Maximianus, Constantius, and Galerius. See Eusebius Ecc. Hist. b. viii. c. 13; and supplement to same book; and Valesius’s notes, Eng. Trans. pp. 148. 153.
- “Greatest of the poets of the Greeks.” The Latin has “Homeri inquit versum, dicens;” and the other Syriac, ܗܘܡܪ̈ܘܣ ܡܫܡܐܣܗܘܐ ܕܦܘܐܛܝܗܘܢ ܕܝܘܕܝܐܙ, “Homer, the celebrated of the poets of the Greeks.” Those words of Homer, Iliad ii. 24, were often cited by the early Christians, and do not therefore prove that Procopius was acquainted with his poems. See Heinichen’s note.
- “On the seventh day of the month Heziran.” See Valesius’s note on this passage in the Greek; Eng. Trans. p. 157.