Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne · §4 · Origen of Alexandria

First mob abuse and prison

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The writers describe what the Christians first suffered from the crowd and city officials before the governor arrived.

First they bravely endured everything the crowd heaped upon them all together in a heap. There were shouts and blows and dragging and tearing and volleys of stones and confinement, and every outrage an enraged multitude inflicts upon enemies in war. Then the chiliarch and the leading authorities of the city brought them up to the marketplace. They were questioned before the whole crowd, and once they had made their profession of faith, they were shut together in prison until the governor arrived.

Greek

Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου πανδημεὶ σωρηδὸν ἐπιφερόμενα γενναίως ὑπέμενον, ἐπιβοήσεις καὶ πληγὰς καὶ συρμοὺς καὶ διαρπαγὰς καὶ λίθων βολὰς καὶ συγκλείσεις καὶ πάνθ᾽ ὅσα ἠγριωμένῳ πλήθει ὡς πρὸς ἐχθροὺς καὶ πολεμίους φιλεῖ γίνεσθαι, καὶ δὴ ἀναχθέντες εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ὑπό τε τοῦ χιλιάρχου καὶ τῶν προεστηκότων τῆς πόλεως ἐξουσιῶν ἐπὶ παντὸς τοῦ πλήθους ἀνακριθέντες καὶ ὁμολογήσαντες, συνεκλείσθησαν εἰς τὴν εἱρκτὴν ἕως τῆς τοῦ ἡγεμόνος παρουσίας.

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.