# Ælfric's Lives of Saints/Of the Seven Sleepers

XXIII.
JULY 27. THE SEVEN SLEEPERS.
Behold here beginneth the Passion of the Seven Blessed Sleepers, the names of which saints shine in heaven, and also gleam brightly on earth among Christian men. The first of them, Maximianus, is the leader of his companions; the second beside 4 [him is] Malchus the obedient ; and the third beside. Martini- anus ; then the fourth, Dionysius; the holy Johannes, fifth; then the name of the sixth is Seraphion; and lastly, of the seventh, Constantine.
The festival of the Seven Saints is, in the year, five days before Loaf-Mass [Aug. 1.]
In the olden time, long past, of the great persecution, when the heathen men desired altogether to quench the beams of Christianity, and to destroy every memorial over the earth, and when the blessed martyrs suffered manifold distresses for His name ; — when Decius the perverse held sway over all the Roman empire, and things went well in his hands as regards this world, so that he tortured the chosen of God, and afflicted them with miseries, and punished them without fear just as he would ;--then it 16 happened, at a certain season, that he went into a city which men name Constantinople, which was the chief city in Greece, and thence he journeyed to Carthage, and thence to Ephesus.
When he had gone to the three cities, then he bade summon to him very speedily all the citizens together, saying that he desired
to hold a council with them. As soon as those who believed in God learnt that, then were they all exceedingly afraid, and all their congregations were immediately disturbed, and the holy priests and all the good men became on a sudden grievously
troubled. Then he, Decius the emperor, when he marched into Ephesus with magnificence and pomp, lifted up his heart greatly above measure as if he were God. Then began he to erect idols in the churches, and bade that every man should forthwith offer ​sacrifice to the devil with him, on pain of capital punishment; and everyone did so for dread of the emperor, and durst not do otherwise ; but each one defiled himself miserably, in body and soul, with that idolatry. Wheresoever any idol was set up, all the citizens came together from day to day according to the emperor's commands, and they slew there heifers and cattle of every kind; and there the heathen strewed burning coals all about, and thereupon offered to the devil; and the thickness of the smoke and the smell of the flesh rose up on every side throughout the city, just as if it were mist, so that one could see nigh nothing there save smoke alone. And while the heathen rejoiced in such diabolic delusion, those who believed in God wept and lamented, and continned in the greatest sadness, to think that they should ever have seen with their eyes such miseries as they saw there, and that the devil should ever have so great dominion over mankind ; they knew not what to do on that account, nor could they do more than let fall
bitter tears continually, and go about bowed down, and hide them- selves wheresoever they could. But suddenly, in about three days, the emperor sent his heralds, and commanded that men should watch the Christian men very zealously, and that each man should seize them wherever he could on pain of death ; and if they could anywhere find out that any man had protected them, he should be guilty of death ; and he who betrayed them should be worthy of great reward. Then they, the heralds, and many others, as
hoping for the pay, went and sought the Christians wherever they could find them, and tried to please the emperor, to receive some pay from him; and these heathen men, when they anywhere found Christian men, drove them out, and carried them before 56 them like little grasshoppers, and brought them to the people where all men were worshipping idols with the emperor, and compelled the Christians to submit to the devil like themselves; and some of them did so — so miserable was their lot ; for when they saw so manifold terrors in divers torments, they soon became disheartened, and fell down prostrate, and sacrificed to the devil before all the people, however much they ​might rue the time ; and the other Christians who were hidden
there, when they heard of such miseries, lamented bitterly with weeping, and sorely bemoaned the souls of those who should have gone to the kingdom of heaven, in that they had fallen away from God so miserably. But those who steadfastly believed, when they were led thither, and had their faith firm in God, and would not deny their Lord for any man's threats, these the heathen respected not a whit, but punished them by every affliction, and sundered all their limbs one from the other, even as the blowing of the wind sweepeth dust from the earth, and they cut them up and mocked (?) them all, and, like a second deluge, so flowed their blood ; and they hung the headless on the town-walls, and set their heads, like those of others who were thieves, outside the town-walls upon head-stakes; and there immediately flew thither rooks and ravens and birds of many kinds, and hacked out the eyes of the holy martyrs, and flew again into the city over the town-walls, and rent in pieces the holy beloved ones of God, and in their bloody bills 80 bare the flesh of the martyrs, the entrails and inward parts, and devoured them all.
It was hard to find the man there who could not lament such [a sight], neither was there any man upon whom, in passing by, horror and awe did not come, for the great miseries which each one 84 there saw; wonderful was that martyr-army, and strong the strife with the devil; there was the fear of God manifest and evident in that foul deed.
Such a warfare would take place that men might there see, that they loved God from their inmost heart, since they endured affliction for the love of His name, and suffered death itself so severely ; and not only would they lament and compassionate their sufferings, but if we had been there we might have heard, (even as all those heard who were there present, that is, among the great crowd and
in the awful throng, when they were torturing the martyrs), that it would seem on a sudden as if all the images that were set up as gods all about the town, all spoke together and cried with one voice, that they desired [to go] quite away thence, because of the ​great miseries which God's Saints suffered on their account; and as if all the streets spoke likewise, because of the holy bones which were thrown upon them, and lay all about the city ; yea, as if the city-walls quaked and trembled as though they would fall, on account of the holy bodies which hung upon them, on all sides, throughout the city. Behold! what can weeping or sorrow be, if that was not the greatest of both, or what can lamentation or bewailing be, if that was not the fullness of both, when afterwards they thus seized and bound the. Saints, and scourged and burnt them and cut them up like stuck swine, and tormented them with every misery? And kinsmen beheld how their kinsmen suffered and hung on the town- walls for a spectacle; and the brother beheld his sister in torment, and the sister beheld her brother in misery; the father forsook his child, and the child forsook the father, and at last every friend forsook the other, by reason of the great horrors which they saw there ; and the tortures were specially intended for
themselves, unless they straightway ran and sacrificed to the idol and denied the Lord. Then none of the men could any longer conceal himself, but every one in due time had to proclaim and openly testify by his deeds to which of the two lordships he would bow, whether to that of our eternal Lord, or of the accursed devil; whether it were more desirable for him to escape the tortures, or to bear them for God's name.
There were there denounced seven holy men, faithful to God, whose names we wrote in the opening words of their holy Passion ; they were steadfast in the faith of the Son of the Living God, and they faithfully bare in their bodies the sign of His Holy Cross. When they saw the manifold woes which Christ's chosen daily
suffered and endured for His name, then they, the Seven, lamented and wept; and their countenances were all made lean through that great sorrow, and the bright fairness of their youth faded and waned; and they in every way, in watchings, and in fastings, and in holy prayers, lay lamenting; and they did all this on the emperor's account, because they had been formerly his nearest fol​lowers in his household. Then, as often as they saw the evil emperor and all his citizens come together desiring to offer sacrifice to the devil, the Seven Saints went apart where they could, and then prostrated themselves on the earth, and prayed to God that He would help them as He would. Then it befell them that some spying men went amidst them and carefully observed these seven, whenever every man was sought for that he might sacrifice to the idol; and so they found these Seven Saints, holy youths, all together in a chamber praying to God, and with prostrated bodies sorrowfully complaining to Him of their needs; and
they, those enemies of God, without dread immediately went unto the king, and spake thus to him; "Lord of the nations, our most beloved, may it be that thou mayest live long in mirth and in the glory of thy kingdom! Thou, oh dear king! dost command thy
peoples, far and wide, that every man shall be admonished to offer to the great God; and here, nigh at hand, are those who should be thy favorites; they flee away from thyself, and despise thy hest, and they all daily offer sacrifice after the custom of Christian men. The chief of them is Maximianus, and his six companions, who are accounted the chiefest in this city." When the emperor heard this, then he became greatly disturbed in mind, and bade that they should be brought straightway to him; and immediately
they came with eyes streaming because of the great anguish; all their heads were sprinkled with dust, yet all their affection was firm in their trust of the eternal Lord. Then he, the emperor, asked, and thus cried; " Why are ye separated from the society of your companions, that ye would not keep my command, that ye have not brought offerings to the great gods? But now I pray you, and command each of you, that ye zealously begin it, and very quickly fulfil it, and do it without evasion as I have commanded you, and as all men do widely throughout every nation."
Then one of the youths, the holy Maximianus, answered him alone for them all, and said to the emperor with intrepid voice; "We worship One Eternal Lord, whose might filleth the heavens ​and the earth; to Him alone we sacrifice, and to His Holy Child Jesus Christ, who for our need came in flesh in the Holy Ghost, who from the Father and the Son inexplicably proceedeth, and sanctifieth all creatures; to this Indivisible Trinity we
pray with humility; to this God we frequently bring offerings, and send our supplications to him with purity of body and soul, and with confession of mind and mouth; we offer Him these fittingly, and we will never offer to thy accursed idols, lest we bring ourselves into defilement, and afterward into the misery of everlasting hell; to God alone we commit our needs, and to Him we commend our souls ; Him will we never deny, but will ever worship Him." When Decius, the emperor, heard these words, 176 then he did not oppose each one separately, but he bade men cut off from each their sword- scabbards, and bade men bind them firmly with bonds, and said to them all; " Since ye will not offer to the great gods, ye shall never henceforth be to me so worthy nor so dear as ye were before; but ye shall be separated from me, and from every mirth, until I urge you again, and then I will proceed against you more severely, when I want to have an accusation against you. It seemeth to me indeed to be unadvisable, yet I leave you unbeheaded — that ye so miserably undo and destroy yourselves and your flourishing youth in tortures and in woes and in divers miseries. But I yet grant you now some respite, that ye may bethink yourselves and bring yourselves to a better mind, that ye may save for yourselves your fair life."
When the emperor had thus spoken to them, then, because they were dear to him, he bade men unbind them all again and send them away unbound, that they might all travel away freely whithersoever they would; and the emperor went to men of other cities, and wrought the same that he had before practised, and vexed Christian men to the utmost of his power.
Then Maximianus, the Saint of God, and his six companions, God's chosen ones, after they had received the respite and had some leisure, they then fully completed the holy work which they had begun ere they stood before the emperor. For they received from their kinsmen abundant treasure, immense [quantities of] ​silver and gold, and spent them all publicly and privately for the sake of God, and distributed to poor men, and took counsel among themselves, and thus unanimously spoke; " Better we should free ourselves from the tumult of this population ; let us go into the great cave here beyond on the Celian Hill, and there let us pray earnestly to God; and there we may full easily dwell in safety until the emperor come again into this city; and let him then decree even as he will, and let nothing in the world keep us back from God; but let Him do about us even as His will may be, that we may through his aid accomplish martyrdom before the emperor, and receive from Him the eternal diadem without end with His Saints." When they had thus spoken, these seven chosen Saints, they gave each other a pledge that they would all hold to this until their life's end. And the money which they still had left they took with them in the cave in common, and all went in thither and continued therein many a day, and with prostrate bodies they prayed fervently to God that He would have pity on them, even as His will might be. Then they appointed a faithful steward, and very discreet; the name of this blessed man was Malchus the good, along of whom [i. e. by whose means] was all their food; his office was to provide their meat at all times, and he with humility undertook that service; and as often as he went into the city he showed himself in the appearance of a poor man, and privately enquired how it fared in
the emperor's household ; and, as diligently as he could, distributed alms to poor men, and bought meat for his companions, and brought it to them ; and made known to them every word which he had heard spoken anywhere within the town about them. Then it befell that, whilst these things were taking place, the emperor came again with his army into the city Epliesus, and he straightway bade summon the holy Maximian, and his six companions with him, that they all together might sacrifice to the devils. When with excessive wrath he commanded each man, then they all continued faithful, and oppressed with fear, and everyone sought refuge immediately where he could find any ; and he, Malchus the faithful, fled instantly from the city with awe and ​fear, having with him however some scanty food, and came to his companions and told them everything; how fearfully the emperor had commanded concerning them, that they should be sought for everywhere ; and they, the Saints, when they had heard that, all feared and cried to God, and with very great lamentation commended to Him all their lives. Nevertheless, Malchus their serving man was ever among them, and the scanty food which he had brought thither he served to them carefully, that they
might a little refresh themselves, and that they might be the more heartened against the accursed strong one and the old adversary. When they all came together and sat in the midst of the cave, that they might eat in common, then their eyes were filled with tears and all their hearts sadly grieved; meanwhile it became evening, and the sun sank to rest while they were weeping and talking anxiously; then, among them, one by one they napped, and so long reclined that they were all asleep together ; all their eyes were made heavy by the manifold bitter tears which they had let fall there, and in that great sorrow they lay and slept. But God the Almighty Creator, who is the Ruler of all creatures, who to His chosen is as mild as is a mother to her own child, Himself ordained for the Seven Saints, that they should sleep thus, for the great wonders which afterward He willed to do; these Saints, whom He was minded further to reveal to all the world. He Himself thus ordained these things, and by His mighty disposing ordered it, that none of them should feel how they fell asleep, and none of them knew where their souls rested. It was all unknown to them, but it was fully known to God. They all lay sleeping upon the earth, and thus in the confession of God's name they fell into that quietness; and the money that they had there in their scrips lay also with the Saints upon the earth. When the sun began in the morning to show to all men her bright beam, then the emperor bade search diligently wherever they could hear of the Saints. Then every man, according to the command, went everywhere ; they searched in the country, they asked ​in the town; as they went all round about the town-wall, they searched in every place wherever they could enquire ; nor could
any man anywhere find them.
Then the emperor, sad in mind, spake to his thanes with words such as these, " The missing of my favorites is a great unhappiness to me, that they have so suddenly and entirely
escaped us. Being men of so great kindred as they were, therefore they have feared, and altogether dreaded that we should be angry with them, because they would not obey us before." Then said the emperor to the bystanders, " Nay, behold, So one knoweth, and I also know it myself, if we see any man who will submit himself zealously to our gods, all that he hath before been guilty of, less or more, we let it [pass out] of mind as if it had never been." After such words and manifold others, then
stepped in to the emperor the chiefest who were in his household, and accused the Saints to him, and thus spake concerning them : " Lord of all men throughout this wide world, we pray thy kingship til at thou be not at all dreary or sorry for the young boys, enemies of all gods, because they have continued in evil under thee, lord, until this present day; according to that which we have heard, after that thou didst allow them that respite wherein they might bethink themselves, they have ever sought how they might misplease thee utterly. All the evil that they had begun before, they have afterward fully performed ; they have taken from their kinsmen countless treasures, and cast them all about the open city-ways, and are now concealed and hidden in secret so that no man can anywhere find them. If thy kingship so sayeth, it shall instantly happen that their kinsmen be summoned, and be sternly threatened, that they, by means of torture, may betray them, and bring them, lord, to thee." When the emperor heard these words he immediately comforted his mind; then bade he fetch the kinsmen, and began to say these words to them, " Where are the apostates, your wicked kinsmen, who have slighted my command, so that they have not offered any sacrifice to the worthy gods? Unless ye now here betray them, ye shall endure their punishment."
Then answered the kinsmen and took great oaths, and implored ​the emperor, and, being much affrighted, answered him, " We pray thee, dear lord, that thou wilt hear our words; we never neglected anywhere thy kingly commands, neither despised we ever the worthy gods; why wilt thou, lord, punish us for the sake of other men who contemned thy command and spent our treasures all over the earth? Here they are full near at hand, yonder on the
Celian Hill, hidden in anxiety and fear, neither know we concerning them, whether they be there living or there lying dead.' When they had thus fearfully excused themselves, then the emperor bade them go whithersoever they would ; and they, fain of
life, quickly departed thence from him ; and the emperor again straightway thought and considered what he could do to the Saints, or however he should act concerning them ; and since he desired not to harm them, because it was so ordained to come to pass, God Almighty granted him this, though he was not worthy that God should visit him. Nevertheless, for the merit of His Saints, He sent this thought into his mind, that he bade the entrance of the cave, within which they lay, to be all blocked up
with hewn stones, because God willed that they should rest there quietly, and sleep untouched in the cave, until the quickly completed time when He would again manifest them to mankind, by His great glory, for a great need; and then he, Decius, so took counsel, that he then determined and made known his intention, and proclaimed everywhere: " Let them go very quickly thither yonder to the cave wherein the apostates slumber hidden, and block them up therein all alive with hewn stones on every side, that they shall never any longer see the sun-beams, nor have mirth with us henceforth, since they would not observe our command; but let them be there, in misery, closed up on either hand until death altogether swallow them up."
So he, the emperor, purposed in his mind, and all the citizens with him, that they, the Saints, should thus be closed up in the cave alive.
Then it happened that there went among them twain of the emperor's favorites. They were very dear to him, nevertheless
they were both secretly Christians ; the one was named Theodore, and the other Rufinus. Then they spake between themselves so ​that no man knew it save themselves, that they would write down the martyrology of these holy martyrs, and lay the writing therein with the Saints, just where men must go into the cave, that it might lie therein with them as a testimony, until the time when God Almighty should awake them, and should reveal them to mankind; that all men might afterward perceive by that writing, who the Saints were whom they should find therein, when it should be God's will. And they, the twain, were faithful, and did straightway all as they had before intended, and went into the cave secretly apart [from the rest], and engraved with letters on a leaden tablet the holy martyrology, just as it had happened, and they sealed up the writing with two silver seals in a casket, and laid it therein very secretly beside the Saints; and they closed the cave's keystone very securely, and afterward thence turned them homeward ; and so all these things were through God's ordinance thus disposed. Then about that time died Decius abroad, the evil emperor, and all his kindred, every whit; and many other emperors reigned after him, one after another, in the glory of their kingship, and in the joy of their power; and they, some heathen and some Christian, reigned many years until Theodosius, the great emperor, son of Arcadius, succeeded to the kingdom. And about the eight and thirtieth year after he began to reign, there sprang up everywhere among God's people great heresy, and evil men went about everywhere they could, and brought Christian men into heresy, and said that the belief was naught which all faithful men believe without doubt, viz. that all men at Doomsday shall arise with the same bodies in which each one before lived here in life, 'and then each man shall be doomed according to his deserts, either to misery in hell-torment, or to mirth in the kingdom of heaven. Heretics desired to destroy this faith, and utterly to extinguish it out
of Christ's church ; and at the time when the bishops should have been ready to lead God's holy people in the right way, they, above all, fostered every error, and raised up every heresy. There were two men in the episcopal office who were the chief promoters of every evil ; one was called Theodore, and the other Gains. They ​were not even worthy that one should write their names in this martyrology of saints, because they troubled God's church most of all, and misled all the people with their heretical speeches. And Theodosius, the great emperor, when he heard such folly every day, he became exceeding sorry in his mind; and he, weeping, bemoaned it in his thoughts, that ever in his time the Christian faith should fall away so miserably.
Some of the chief heretics said that men would never arise from death ; some of them said that the body, which alone is corrupted and turned to dust and sown widely, would never come together again, but the souls alone on Doomsday, without any body, would receive the joy of their resurrection. Thus they erred with their lying speech, and they utterly stopped up their minds' understanding, so that they could not think of any of the words which our Saviour Himself said in the gospel concerning the resurrection, "Amen amen, dico vobis, quia venit hora, quando mortui in monumentis audient vocem filii hominis, et vivent:" that is, in our speech, " Verily, verily I say unto you, that the time cometh when all the dead men shall hear in their graves the voice of the Son of Man, and they all shall revive,"
Such [are the] holy words and numberless others which are written in holy books, which God Almighty, in many ways, both by His prophets and by Himself, and concerning the resurrection of the martyrs, had spoken, and yet they had forgotten all these words; the heretics [only] held them in their memory privately, and lay in their heresy ; and the sweetness of God's words they turned to bitterness to themselves, who thus vexed God's people; and therefore for these things was Theodosius the Great exceedingly grieved, and for that sorrow he clothed his body with mean raiment, and was alone, without servants, in his inner chamber, and shut himself therein, and there mournfully demeaned himself before God,
because he knew not what he ought to believe, since those most troubled him, and brought him into uncertainty, who should have been his counsellors. But Almighty God the Merciful, who with full mildheartedness receiveth every man who seeketh Him with full humility, when He saw the emperor's great lamentation, at ​once repented Him of his grievous purpose, and would no longer keep him afflicted, neither would He likewise longer permit that His holy people should lie in heresy; but He, for His
great mercy, both granted comfort to the good emperor, and very soon afterwards He willed to manifest to all the people, what each man ought to believe with certainty, and so He very opportunely delivered His Holy Church from the vexation of heretics, and by the deed thus wrought He revealed, by His bright and true light, the future Resurrection of all of them.
Then, at the time when the Christian and good Theodosius was fully trusting in God Almighty, as many of his ancestors had done before him, and was very earnestly bemoaning to God his need, it befell in the days when these aforesaid things happened, that God Almighty provided a very prudent man, who owned possession over all the plot on the Celian Hill, in the midst of which was the cave wherein the seven Saints lay sleeping. He then, this same good man, let his shepherd-boys' cots be reared there all about the hill, that they might lie there handy to their lord's cattle, and might defend themselves against cold and against heat. And they, diligently, the shepherd-boys, as well as their hand-mates (companions) for about two days were employed in the work continually, until, being nearly wearied out, they came where the seven Saints lay very near; and they there soon, unexpectedly,
turned over the very fast-set hewn stone ; and ever, as they went nearer and nearer, they found one stone joined on to another ; and just on the second day they set free the keystone of the cave, so that they could easily go in and easily go out. Then it happened that God willed that the holy company should be awaked who had rested in the cave a fitting time. And He then, our Saviour — He Who to unborn children giveth life in their mother's womb, He Who by His power waketh from death the seared
bones, He Who also brought Lazarus to life, and awaked him from death about three days after he was buried — He Himself extra-ordinarily, by His own deed, awaked them, those seven Saints who slept in the cave, from sleep ; and they all sat up in sound health after their own manner, and sung their psalms; for there ​was no mark of death seen upon them, neither was their clothing at all moth-eaten ; but both the very same clothes which lay upon them were all sound, and their holy bodies they saw all blooming. They all supposed that they had slept in the evening, and soon after in the morning had awaked from sleep; and the same thought and the same anxiety which was in their hearts during their night-sleep, the same things they thought of when they awoke, and they knew no other thing save that Decius the emperor had bidden to seize them; and when they thought thus, being grieved, and on account of their minds' sadness, they let fall tears. Then they all looked to Malchus who was one of their companions, and he was also their steward; and they then asked him what he had heard in the evening that people said about them in the town. Then he, Malchus, answered, and said to his companions, " That which I said to you before in the evening, that same I now say to you, that men sought us to-night everywhere, and asked diligently everywhere for us, that we might sacrifice to the idols; and Decius the emperor is even now considering where we have gone, or where he may seek us out; now knoweth our Lord that we
have no need of this, that we should ever swerve from Him."
Then answered Maximianus, and said to his brethren, "If it shall so happen that men find us here, and lead us for God's name to the emperor, let us straightway go thither very readily, and
let us there stand readily before him, and let him command such punishment as he may command us. Let us not be at all affrighted, neither let us ever deny our former life, that we have purely kept up the praise of God amongst us until now, through
the holy faith of the Son of the living God." And they, the brothers, cried to Malchus and said to him; " Take now, brother, a sum of money with thee, and go to the town with it and buy us a portion of bread; and enquire diligently, as well as thou canst,
what the emperor may have commanded concerning us ; and do us all again to wit of that which thou mayest learn. Buy us, however, more liberally of bread to-day than thou boughtest yesterday, and bring us better bread than thou before broughtest; because the loaves were very scanty which came to us yesterday ​evening : " for they, the Saints, supposed and thought nothing else, but that they had slept in the evening, and after that awaked in the morning. And he then, Malchus their serving-man, straightway arose in the early morning, and did all as his custom was; he took with him a certain sum of money, as much as might be; however, it might be some two and sixty pence, and the superscription of the money was of the very minting that had been struck in the first year of Decius' succession to the kingdom. Four times they changed the coinage in his days while the Saints still dwelt among other men ; and in the first minting there were two and sixty pence weight of silver in one coin, and in the second just sixty, and in the third four and forty, and in the fourth still less, as they reckoned it there. So the money that Malchus had was of the first minting in Decius' name. So between the days of the first minting of Decius, when the Saints went into the cave, and the
time of Theodosius who then was emperor when Malchus bare the money to the town, by the old reckoning, there had past three hundred and seventy-two years, from the day that the Saints slept to the day when they again awoke. He then, Malchus, at once at daybreak went out of the cave ; and when he was out of it, then he saw where the hewn stones lay everywhere thereabout, and he in part wondered thereat, though he did not consider much about it; but he, being afraid, went down from the hill with great fear, and he thence hurried very timidly to the town, and ever he was vexing himself lest some man should recognise him, and straightway make him known to the emperor. He, the Saint, knew not that the other, miserable man! was dead, and had not even one bone [joined] with the others, but [they] lay everywhere broken to pieces and thrown about over the wide earth. And as he, Malchus, was walking quite near by the town-gate, he ​looked thitherward, and beheld the holy sign of the cross of Christ, where it stood fastened with honour above the town-gate ; and thereupon extraordinary wondering seized him, and at the sight wondrous amazement came upon him, and he stood and beheld, and it seemed marvellous to him; and he beheld everywhere on every side, and he gazed at the rood, and it seemed all wonderful to him ; and he thought in his mind what it might be. Then he went thence to another town-gate, and he again saw the holy rood, and he wondered exceedingly thereat; and then he visited all the town-gates, and saw the holy rood standing upon each one, and he was all full of wondering and amazement; moreover he saw the city turned all into another kind from what it was before, and the dwellings throughout the city all built in another fashion from what they were before; and he could recognise no part of the city, any more than the man who had never seen it with his eyes. And while he, thus wondering, thought that he was dreaming in the night, then he turned again to the same
town-gate at which he had first arrived, and he thought in his heart and said to himself, " Whatever marvel may this chance to be, that I see here so wonderfully, that yesterday evening in all this city the sign of the holy cross was nowhere visible, and now it is everywhere manifest, and is to-day fastened on each town-gate. And he again thought in his mind, and lifted up his hand, and crossed himself and thus said; " God Almighty bless me! is it all true, or do I dream in sleep all the strange wonder that I see here? " And he, after this thought, partly took comfort, and enwrapped his head with a cloth, and timidly went into the town, and sheltered himself very carefully ; and so he came very near to the market where all men sold their ware. Then ​he heard how the men spake amongst themselves, and often and frequently swore allegiance to Christ, and they used no speech there save ever about Christ's name. When he heard such speech, then Malchus feared exceedingly, and he was utterly frightened
thereat, and said in his mind, " Lo! whatever can this be that I hear wondrously here? At first I saw a great wonder, now I hear one still greater; yesterday evening no man could name Christ's name with safety, and now to-day on every man's tongue Christ's name is ever in the chief place." Then said he again to himself, " Truly it never seemeth to me that it can be true that this is the city of Ephesus, because it is all ordered in another manner and all built with other dwellings; neither does any man here speak in the manner of heathen men, but all after the customs of Christian men." Then he changed his thoughts again, and answered himself thus, " But again I know not, neither knew I ever yet, that any other city was near to us except Ephesus alone, here just beside the Celian Hill; " and he stood there still a little while, and thought within himself what truth there might be in it. Then he saw a young man, and went to the same, and began to ask him, and said, " Lo! well may it be with thee, good man! I earnestly desire to know from thee the right name of this city, if thou wilt inform me." Then said the young man to him, " I will tell thee full quickly; this city is called Ephesus, and it was thus called from a very early time." Then he thought in his mind, and said to himself, "Now I was in the right way in my inward thought, but better will it be that I go out of this town again lest I be too greatly bewildered, and so may not come to my comrades who ere while sent me here; certainly I have here perceived that the over anxiety of my mind hath here seized me, so that I know not very certainly why I thus act." (He, Malchus, ​afterwards related all to his companions, how it happened to him in all these things, when he came again to them in the cave, of which we before spake, and when their wonderful arising was revealed to all men, and their holy life was all manifested). And he, Malchus, when everything that he saw and heard seemed so wonderful to him, and as he desired to go out of the town, yet went he in the disguise of a beggar very near where they were selling bread in the market; and when he came thither, he at once drew pennies out of his bosom, and gave them to the market-men, in exchange for bread ; and they, the market-men, looked at the pennies very earnestly, and they wondered enquiringly at seeing such money, and they beheld the pennies there as a curiosity, and handed them over amongst themselves from bench to bench, and showed [them] to be looked at, and said among themselves, " Without doubt that which we all see here is true, that this unknown young man hath found very long ago a very old gold-treasure, and hath hid it secretly now for many years." But when Malchus saw that they looked at his pennies so earnestly, he feared then
very greatly, and all as he stood there he quaked and trembled, thinking only that every man recognised him, and said then in his thought, " Alas, my Lord, what! how pitiably have I now fared here! nor can I expect for myself anything else, but that
they will now take me to Decius; then can I bring no certain news to my companions." And then the chapmen looked at him very earnestly, and considered in thought about him, what manner of man he might be. Then said he to them all with timid words; "Lo! Masters! I pray you very earnestly, grant me that which I seek ; there ye have the pennies in hand, employ them even as ye will. I desire from you no bread, but ye, best of all men, may keep both pennies and bread."
​While he was speaking thus to them, and had thus sadly driven his bargain, they at once all stood up, and held him in their hands, and said to him : " Tell us what manner of man thou art, or whence thou art come, since thou hast thus found old money, and thus hast brought hither old pennies which were struck in ancient days in the time of our ancestors; tell us now the truth without any lie, and we will be thy defenders, and thy advocates always ; neither will we betray thee, but let it all be quiet, so that no man need learn it save ourselves." Then was Malchus much astonished at their speech and thought sorrowfully in his mind, and said about himself to the chapmen, " Strangely hath it happened to me alone, and miserably have I alone suffered before all
men over this wide earth ; to every other man who is born into this life it is permitted that he may support himself out of his ancestors' treasures, but to me only, wretch! may none of this avail. Now I am twitted about my own as if I had stolen it, and they will require of me by tortures that which I had obtained by right means." Then answered the chapmen and said to him, " Nay, nay, dear man, thou canst not so deceive us with thy smooth words ; as for the gold-hoard which thou hast found and hast so long concealed, it cannot be hidden now it is thus discovered." He knew not what answer he should give them on account of the great awe which was in his mind. When they saw that he stood there still, and answered them nothing, forthwith they took him, and knitted a
twist all about his neck, and all dragged him thence into the midst of the market, and they held him thus bound amidst the city, and it spread everywhere, and was straightway widely known, and all men over the city immediately ran thither, and with clamour each ​said to the other, that there had been taken within the city an unknown young man who must have found a gold-hoard of their forefathers, and so brought thither very old money which had been struck in former days, and made use of in the times of the elder Emperors; and then there was gathered a wonderfully great crowd, and all men gazed upon him alone, where he stood bound in their midst, and vociferating on all sides every man said to the others, " This is some foreign man of some other country ; we know nothing of him, and none of us ever saw him before with our [lit. his] eyes." And he, Malchus, heard all these words, and ever was his uneasiness waxing, and he ever endeavoured at least thus zealously to please the people with his humility, that they might pity him for his entire humility; because he knew not, neither could find any argument, nor knew he to whom he should speak a word. Then every man separately beheld him, and no man could recognise him; and as he stood there sad and silent in the great
astonishment of his mind; it suddenly occurred to his thoughts that he had very great confidence that his relatives still lived in the city, and his illustrious kindred which he had there within it were very well known by name to all the people; and it seemed to
him strange that he was certain of this, that he thus knew every man in the evening and every man knew him, and afterwards in the morning he knew no one, nor no man him. No third thing besides he supposed concerning himself, save that it was as if he
were out of his mind; and he then, with that thought, looked on the people on every side, earnestly desiring to recognise some man, either brother or kinsman, or some one of those who formerly were known to him about the city. He was not at all the better for
that which he eagerly observed; he could not see any one there ​whom he was able to recognise ; but while he stood there thus mournfully alone amidst all the people, every man throughout the city spake it about him much more, until it became known in the holy church, at the bishop's throne ; and they told the bishop Marinus and the town-reeve the same news. And they both bade men keep Malchus very warily, that he might not escape ; and they brought him to them with great haste, and his pennies also with
him which he had brought with him thither; and the men who had seized Malchus in the market took him away thence immediately, and led him to the church ; and he still expected nothing else but that they would lead him to Decius the emperor. He then came to the church, and looked about on every side whereever he could, and the gazing people pressed upon him all about, and he earnestly looked on every side wherever he could, and the people regarded him as evilly as if he were guilty of something, and all men dragged him from place to place and wonderfully insulted him; and he was very uneasy among them, and his eyes all overflowed and let fall bitter tears. Then the bishop and the town-reeve took his pennies and scrutinised them before the
people, and wondered exceedingly at them, because they had never before seen with their eyes such coin, which was struck in old days in Decius the emperor's time, and his likeness was engraven thereon and his name written there all round. Then said the town-reeve to Malchus, " Tell us now where the old treasure is which thou hast secretly found, and concealed it all until now. Lest thou shouldst deny it, here is the man full close at hand, who has some of the money in his hands which thou broughtest
hither, and thou gavest it to him out of thy hands." Then answered Malchus and said to them all, " I say all truth here before all you people, and if it is your will ye may believe me, that I never yet found a gold-hoard such as ye impute to me. But I know certainly of a truth, that from the possessions of my parents this money came into my hands, and in the traffic of this ​same city I obtained the money, and have found it nowhere else ; but I cannot at all understand how it has thus happened to me 696 that I act thus." Then said the town-reeve to him, *' Tell me now here openly in what city thou wast born, or to what city thou dost belong?" Then said he to him in answer, " Master, as I suppose in my mind, I belong to no city so rightly as to this city, as it appears to me. Master, this is the city Ephesus in which I was born and nurtured." Then said again the town-reeve to Malchus, " If thou wert born and nurtured here in the town, where are then thy parents who brought thee up, and can
recognise thee? Let them be summoned hither to the bishop, and let them come forth here before us, that they may speak for thee, if they can answer for thee in any wise." And he, Malchus, answered, and named the names of his parents, what was the
name of this one, and what was the naming of the other. Then the town-reeve knew nothing of the names which he there named, but quickly gave him the lie, and said to him tauntingly, " Now through thy false tale I have here perceived that thou art an
exceedingly false man, and well canst, if thou shalt have need, find a false tale." He then, Malchus, knew not what to say, but stood there and bent down his head, and was so long still that some men said who stood there, "His tale is in no respect
true, neither practiseth he other than a public deceit, but disguiseth himself as another man, and thereby concealeth his condition, that he may at any rate escape hence in some wise." And the town-reeve, with these words, conceived great wrath
against Malchus, and with much anger chided him, and thus asked him, " Thou fool, and the greatest impostor who ever was chief in this city, in what wise can we believe thee and thy uncertain words, so that we may be certified that thou hast obtained
this money from the possessions of thy parents? Here may every man see, who has any skill in the art of numbers, and the superscription of these pennies here showeth it openly to all men, that it is even more than three hundred and two and seventy years
since the like money was current on the earth, and all men traded with it; and that was soon after the first days when Decius the ​emperor began to reign; and now there is no piece of such money anywhere among the money which we in these days make use
of, and buy our necessaries with. And as to those of whom thou erewhile didst tell, and name as thy kinsmen, they lived so long ago in olden times that there is no man so old that he can now at this time recollect them, or for many years previously could remember so long ago as they, thy parents, lived. Now standest thou here, a young man, and desirest to delude with thy deceit the old counsellors of this city. But thou shalt be taught otherwise, that thou needest no longer uphold us with thy lies.
I will give orders that they shall bind thee very fast, both hands and feet, and scourge thee often and repeatedly, even as the statute-book teacheth concerning such men, and afflict thee with every sorrow; then shalt thou, in spite of thyself, reveal the treasure which thou wouldest not before make known of thine own will."
"When Malchus heard these words which the town-reeve was speaking to him so angrily, he, affrighted, cast himself down
straightway and prostrated himself before all the people, and then said to them all, with weeping voice, " Lo, Masters! I pray you this charity that I may ask one thing, and I will at once make known to you all that I think in my thought. This, master, I would ask, if ye would tell me, where is Decius the emperor, he who was here in this city?" Then answered him the bishop Marinus, and said to Malchus; " My dear child, there is not today the emperor living on earth who is named Decius; the emperor whom thou askest about, he lived in the world long ago, and very many years are now past since he departed from this life." Then said Malchus to the bishop in answer, " That is the one thing, dear lord, which oppresses me all day, and that is the one fear which so greatly afflicts me in my mind, and no man will believe my words; but I pray you now humbly that ye will follow after me a little while. I have very near at hand a few companions; they are here, yonder in the cave on the Celian Hill ; ye may believe without doubt the meaning of all this. Nevertheless, I know it to be a true thing, that we all fled together from Decius ​the emperor, and we suffered long his persecution, and now last night I saw with mine eyes that the same Decius went into Ephesus, and I and my companions were resident in the city of Ephesus : but on account of his great persecution we all fled thence to the hill yonder, and all lay in the cave this night hidden from Decius. But to-day it has befallen me so wonderfully that I cannot by any means recognise whether this be the city of the Ephesians or else any other." "When Malchus had spoken all thus, then the bishop Marinus thought, wondering in his mind, and said to all the people, " This is of a surety a wonderful vision which God Almighty hath revealed to this young man ; but let us now all very quickly arise, and go with him thither yonder." And the bishop Marinus straightway arose, and with him the town-reeve and the chief townsmen, and [went]
forth with a great multitude of all the population; and all went thitlier with great solemnity, and approached the cave. And then Malchus went on before to his holy companions, and the bishop Marinus went in after him, and next after him some of the chiefest honourable men went into the cave. And when they entered in, they found on the right hand a casket, which was sealed with two silver seals, and which the two faithful men had laid therein when Decius the emperor bade the cave to be built up, as we related earlier before this ; that the seals might be afterward as evidence of what they should find therein, when the time should come even as God willed that it was to come. And they then bare out the casket, and bade summon all the citizens, and showed it to all the people, and no man unsealed it before they were all come thither. After they were all gathered there before the bishop, then the town-reeve took hold of the casket, and unsealed it in the witness of all the people, and
quickly uncovered it, and found therein a leaden tablet all written upon ; and then he openly read it. Then he came to the row of letters where he found the word written, and he also read it, that they fled from Decius the emperor and suffered his persecution : " Maximianus, who was the son of the city-reeve, Malchus, Martinianus, Dionysius, Johannes, Seraphion, Con​stantine: these are the Saints who, according to the command of Decius the emperor, were enclosed with wrought stones in this cave; and we two, Theodorus and Eufinus, wrote their martyrology and laid it herein, with these Saints, upon a stone." And when they had read that writing, they were all wondering, and with one mind praised and magnified God Almighty for the great wonders which He had manifested there, and granted to all men; and they all with one voice praised the holy martyrs of God where they sat all in a row within the cave ; and all their countenances were like roses and lilies. And the bishop and all the multitude fell down upon the earth, and prayed to the Saints ; and all the people blessed and worshipped Almighty God for His great mercy, in that He deigned to reveal to them such wonders. And they, the holy martyrs, sat in the cave, and related in order to the
bishop Mariniis and to the chiefest men how they had acted in the time of Decius the emperor, and how many distresses they suffered under him, and many other things they there revealed to them which had happened in his days, and how other martyrs suffered
under his persecutions, all as we related before in the former part of this story.
And the bishop Marinus sent immediately afterwards a letter to the good emperor Theodosius, which was indited to this effect:
" Humbly I greet thee, my lord, and I pray thy glorious kingship that thou come to us as quickly as thou canst, that thou mayest see the great miracles which God Almighty hath granted to all mankind, and He hath manifested them in the time of thy reign. My lord, light is come to us upon the earth, and we have with us the brightness of the true faith; and the future resurrection ​of all men is now made known to us through open signs, and God's holy martyrs are arisen, and have speech with mankind
concerning it." When the good emperor Theodosius had read the letter, he arose from the floor and from the mean sacking upon which he had long been sitting sadly, and he thanked God Almighty and cried aloud, " We thank Thee, great Creator, Thou
Who art King and Ruler in heaven and earth; we confess Thee, dear Saviour, Thou Who only art the Son of the living God; we glorify Thee with inward heart that Thou hast willed to show us on earth the sun of Thy righteousness, and to enlighten us in our
exile with the light of Thy great mercy. Thou wouldest not. Lord, permit that the lantern of my confession should be quenched, which began to shine from the lantern of my fathers; [viz.] of Constantinus, the noble one, and Thy chosen one. Lord, [as] we
believe." And he immediately went swiftly with great haste in his chariot from the city Constantinople to Ephesus, and all the citizens went down together towards the emperor's coming, and the bishop very humbly went to meet him, and, with the chiefest men, led him to the cave. And then they ascended the Celian Hill with the emperor, and approached the Saints who were in the cave : and they, the holy martyrs, went then to meet the emperor ; and as soon as they looked upon him, all their countenances began to shine like the thoroughly bright sun; and he, the emperor, then went in, and there prostrated himself before the Saints. And they raised him from the floor, and he then embraced them all, and for the great bliss he wept over each one severally, and his
heart was rejoiced, and with the greatest gladness he said to the Saints, " It quite seemeth to me, since I see you here thus before me, as if I were very nigh at hand to the Saviour Our Lord, and beheld Him with my eyesight when He awaked Lazarus from the tomb: and now it seemeth to me just as if I stand visibly before ​His glorious Majesty and hear His own voice as it is to be heard in the future, when at His great Advent all men universally shall continue."
Then they said, " Now, now, may God Almighty grant also that thou mayest live in joy; and we will be for thee [here] within oftentimes praying God for this, that He will preserve thee in holy fulness of faith, and in the strength of thy belief, and thy kingdom
in peace; and that our Saviour, the Son of the living God, may shield thee in His Name against all enemies, both in this life and in that which is to come."
To His glory Who liveth to eternity, and reigneth with the
Father, and with the Son, and with the Holy Ghost to all ages of ages, ever without end. Amen.