The Glory of Martyrs vs. the Ignorance of Tyrants

Marketplaces and stalls were set up in the bodies of those who praised, not only men but also women, the most wretched of all. Others were burned by fire, others were struck down by cold; in various ways they shared their excellence among us, so that by falling, they might conquer.

Because of this, having surrounded the pious bodies with reverence—the vessels of election, the instruments of blessed souls, the dwellings of the philosophers—we guard them as highly precious heirlooms for all time, and we protect them as our own treasure; and for the martyrs, the church is fortified like a city with brave soldiers, and all kinds of festivals are celebrated, and we enjoy the joy of the feasts.

But those pressed by hardship or misfortune, as if seeking refuge, rush to the thrice-blessed, making themselves ambassadors of their prayers and requests with great boldness. From here, poverty is relieved, diseases are healed, and the threats of rulers are calmed; and for all the troubles and hardships of life, the shrines of the martyrs are safe harbors.

Thus a father or mother, taking up a sick child and embracing it, runs to seek medicine and doctors, but turns to unskilled help; and coming to one of the martyrs, she presents her petition to the Lord with the same cries used toward the Mediator: 'Intercede through Christ's suffering for those who suffer and are sick. With boldness, use your voice for fellow-servants. Even if you left our life behind, you know the sufferings of humanity; you yourself once pleaded before becoming a martyr. When you sought, you received; now having received, grant. Ask for your own benefit in the form of old age. May we be healed of our infirmity as the world is healed by Christ.'

Another, hastening to a marriage, makes the prayer in the martyr-shrines a prelude to the bridal chambers; and someone rushing to a voyage does not first loosen the moorings of the ship, before he invokes the Lord of the sea through the martyrs; and for the poor and the needy, they have gained a common table and food, the rest of the martyrs; and the martyrs are sung of throughout the earth and the sea. Appropriately and according to their worth. For not as many do the righteousness correctly...

They bore the cross with their own bodies; they did not scatter money, but poured out blood; they did not kill the poor, but did not pity themselves; they did not visit the maltreated in prison, but they themselves wore the chains. Because of this, in exchange for endurance and affliction, they reaped glory and honor.

10.5.1 Thus are the martyrs; but where are those tyrants and murderers, who thought high things and threatened with arrogance, who sit upon lofty thrones and do not know their own ruler? They have leaped over the lions, run over the leopards, fought against the bears, poured out blood against the wolves, and acted wickedly like foxes. More filthy lie the dead donkeys, for oblivion has covered their lives; but they have a tomb that is terrible, a monument of impiety, and a memory of dishonor; they repent in vain, and they groan uselessly.

10.5.2 But the memory of those insulted by them is received by an unceasing remembrance, an ageless praise. For the accounts and the honors, being received by the drunkards from the elders, and grandfathers to grandsons or fathers to children, passing on the healing care for them, make the praise immortal; and just as life preserves these feasts as an inviolable inheritance, or rather something more precious than an inheritance. For indeed, beautiful things of an inheritance are either taken away by a robber, or an enemy takes them as plunder, or a turn of circumstances empties them; but no one shall cut off the feast of holy men from a year, until they are years and time runs and heaven holds the sun and earth grazes its own animals and the sea its exceptional things.

10.5.3 To speak more truly, even when these elements have ceased, though it may seem so to some, the glory of martyrs and righteous ones shall not be extinguished, nor shall that which concerns them be destroyed by the fury of the people; but then they shall blossom even more toward the incorruptible life, once humanity has been re-adorned.

10.6.1 And it is possible for the unbelievers to waver concerning our coming hope, from the things being done in this life, regarding our good expectation of receiving firmly the things laid up. For behold, the whole circle of the inhabited world is filled with the athletes of Christ, and every place holds the memory of the saints; and all times are better than the gifts and growths from the earth, the things of the...