Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne · §13 · Origen of Alexandria

Confessors strengthened and deniers shamed in prison

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The writers describe what happened in prison after Bishop Pothinus was beaten and died, contrasting those who confess Christ with those who first denied the faith.

At this turn a great plan of God came to pass, and the immeasurable mercy of Jesus appeared. Such a thing has seldom happened among our brothers and sisters in faith, yet it fell in no way short of the art of Christ. Those who had denied the faith at the first arrest were shut in with the rest as well and shared in the hardships. Even now their denial did them no good at all. Those who were making profession of faith of what they truly were were shut in as Christians, with no other charge laid against them, while the others were at last held as murderers and as defiled, being tortured twice as severely as the rest.

Those who confessed were lightened by the joy of being martyrs and by hope in the promises and by love toward Christ and by the Spirit of the Father. Those who denied the faith were heavily punished by their own conscience, so that in their walk to trial their faces stood out plainly to everyone else. The one group went forward cheerful, with great glory and grace mingled on their faces, so that even their chains lay upon them like a fitting ornament, like a bride adorned in gold-embroidered robes richly varied with gold (Revelation 21:2), and they breathed out the fragrance of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15), so that some supposed they had been anointed with earthly perfume.

The other group went forward gloomy and downcast and disfigured and full of every shameful mark, and they were reproached even by the pagans as ignoble and cowardly, charged as murderers and stripped of the all-honored and glorious and life-giving name. When the rest saw this, they were strengthened, and whenever any of our people were arrested they confessed without hesitation and gave no room even to a thought prompted by the devil.

Greek

Ἐνταῦθα δὴ μεγάλη τις οἰκονομία θεοῦ ἐγίνετο καὶ ἔλεος ἀμέτρητον ἀνεφαίνετο Ἰησοῦ, σπανίως μὲν ἐν τῇ ἀδελφότητι γεγονός, μὴ ἀπολειπόμενον δὲ τῆς τέχνης Χριστοῦ. Οἱ γὰρ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην σύλληψιν ἔξαρνοι γενόμενοι συνεχλείοντο καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ μετεῖχον τῶν δεινῶν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ ὄφελός τι αὐτοῖς ἡ ἐξάρνησις ἐγίνετο, ἀλλ᾽ οἱ μὲν ὁμολογοῦντες ὃ καὶ ἦσαν, συνεκλείοντο ὡς Χριστιανοί, μηδεμιᾶς ἄλλης αἰτίας αὐτοῖς ἐπιφερομένης, οὗτοι δὲ λοιπὸν ὡς ἀνδροφόνοι καὶ μιαροὶ κατείχοντο, διττότερον παρὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς κολαζόμενοι. Ἐκείνους μὲν γὰρ ἐπεκούφιζεν ἡ χαρὰ τῆς μαρτυρίας καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν ἀγάπη καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ πατρικόν, τούτους δὲ τὸ συνειδὸς μεγάλως ἐτιμωρεῖτο, ὥστε καὶ παρὰ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἅπασιν κατὰ τὰς παρόδους διαδήλους τὰς ὄψεις αὐτῶν εἶναι. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἱλαροὶ προῄεσαν, δόξης καὶ χάριτος πολλῆς ταῖς ὄψεσιν αὐτῶν συγκεκραμένης, ὥστε καὶ τὰ δεσμὰ κόσμον εὐπρεπῆ περικεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς, ὡς νύμφῃ κεκοσμημένῃ ἐν χρυσωτοῖς χρυσοῖς πεποικιλμένοις, τὴν εὐωδίαν ὀδωδότες ἅμα τὴν Χριστοῦ, ὥστε ἐνίους δόξαι καὶ μύρῳ κοσμικῷ κεχρῖσθαι αὐτούς· οἱ δὲ κατηφεῖς καὶ ταπεινοὶ καὶ δυσειδεῖς καὶ πάσης ἀσχημοσύνης ἀνάπλεοι, προσέτι δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν ὀνειδιζόμενοι ὡς ἀγεννεῖς καὶ ἄνανδροι, ἀνδροφόνων μὲν ἐγκλήματα ἔχοντες, ἀπολωλεκότες δὲ τὴν πάντιμον καὶ ἔνδοξον καὶ ζωοποιὸν προσηγορίαν. Ταῦτα δὲ οἱ λοιποὶ θεωροῦντες ἐστηρίχθησαν, καὶ οἱ συλλαμβανόμενοι ἀδιστάκτως ὡμολόγουν, μηδὲ ἔννοιαν ἔχοντες διαβολικοῦ λογισμοῦ.

About this text

Christians at Vienne and Lyons have suffered exclusion, arrest, torture and death in a civic persecution.

The letter was written by the churches of Lyons and Vienne to the brothers and sisters in faith in Asia and Phrygia who hold the same faith and hope. It was written in Greek after Christians at Vienne and Lyons suffered exclusion, arrest, torture and death in a civic persecution under Marcus Aurelius. The writers report the scale of the affliction and the endurance of the martyrs.

The letter presents the assault as the work of the devil, who trains his own people against the servants of Christ, while grace makes firm pillars who draw the attack onto themselves and count suffering small beside the coming glory. The reader meets Vettius Epagathus who volunteers to defend the accused, Sanctus the deacon from Vienne, Maturus, Attalus the man from Pergamum, the enslaved Blandina, Biblis, the bishop Pothinus and Zacharias. Sanctus answers every interrogation only with I am a Christian, Blandina declares I am a Christian and nothing base happens among us, Biblis answers the slander about eating children, Pothinus answers the governor about who is the God of the Christians, and a saying is given as spoken by our Lord that killers will think they offer worship to God.

In this rendering martyrs means Christians who confess under torture and death, profession of faith means the public declaration I am a Christian, those who denied the faith means Christians who denied Christ at first arrest, the pagans means the local populace and soldiers acting against them, governor means the Roman officer who interrogates, servants of Christ means Christians bound to Christ, advocate means a defender and the Spirit within, the devil means Satan, and torture means judicial punishment to force denial or slander. Thyestean feasts and Oedipodean unions are old phrases for the false slanders that Christians ate children and practiced forbidden unions. Sayings from scripture are woven in without book names or citation except the one introduced as spoken by our Lord, and this rendering adds modern chapter and verse in parentheses.

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.