![[St. Pachomius Library]](title.gif)
translated from the Syriac by Rev. B. P. Pratten, 1871
In the year four hundred and sixteen of the kingdom of the Greeks [A.D.
105], that is the fifteenth
year of the reign of the sovereign ruler, our lord, Trajan Caesar, in the
consulship of Commodus and
Cyrillus [Cerealis], in the month Ilul, on the fifth day of the month, the
day after Lysinus, the judge of
the country, had heard the case of Sharbil the priest; as the judge was
sitting in his judgment-hall, the
Sharirs of the city came before him and said to him:
'We give information before thine Excellency concerning Barsamya, the
leader
of the Christians, that
he went up to Sharbil, the priest, as he was standing and ministering
before
the venerable gods, and
sent and called him to him secretly, and spoke to him, quoting from the
books in which he reads in
the church where their congregation meets, and recited to him the belief
of
the Christians, and said
to him, "It is not right for thee to worship many gods, but only one God,
and His Son Jesus Christ"
--until he made him a disciple, and induced him to renounce the gods whom
he
had formerly
worshipped; and by means of Sharbil himself also many have become
disciples,
and are gone down
to the church, and lo! this day they confess Christ; and even Avida, and
Nebo, and Barcalba, and
Hafsai, honourable and chief persons of the city, have yielded to Sharbil
in
this. We, accordingly, as
Sharirs of the city, make this known before thine Excellency, in order
that
we may not receive
punishment as offenders for not having declared before thine Excellency
the
things which were
spoken in secret to Sharbil by Barsamya the guide of the church. Thine
Excellency now knoweth
what it is right to command in respect of this said matter.'
And, immediately that the judge heard these things, he sent the Sharirs of
the city, and some of his
attendants with them, to go down to the church and bring up Barsamya from
the church. And they
led him and brought him up to the judgment-hall of the judge; and there
went
up many Christians
with him, saying: We also will die with Barsamya, because we too are of
one
mind with him in
respect to the doctrine of which he made Sharbil a disciple, and in all
that
he spoke to him, and in all
that Sharbil received from him, so that he was persuaded by him, and died
for the sake of that
which he heard from him.
And the Sharirs of the city came, and said to the judge: Barsamya, as
thine
Excellency commanded,
lo! is standing at the door of the judgement-hall of thy Lordship; and
honourable chief-persons of
the city, who became disciples along with Sharbil, lo! are standing by
Barsamya, and crying out,
"We will all die with Barsamya, who is our teacher and guide."
And, when the judge heard those things which the Sharirs of the city had
told him, he commanded
them to go out and write down the names of the persons who were crying
out,
"We will all die with
Barsamya." And, when they went out to write down the names of these
persons,
those who so cried
out were too many for them, and they were not able to write down their
names, because they were
so many: for the cry kept coming to them from all sides, that they "would
die for Christ's sake along
with Barsamya."
And, when the tumult of the crowd became great, the Sharirs of the city
turned back, and came in
to the judge, and said to him: We are not able to write down the names of
the persons who are
crying aloud outside, because they are too many to be numbered. And the
judge commanded that
Barsamya should be taken up to the prison, so that the crowd might be
dispersed which was
collected together about him, lest through the tumult of the multitude
there
should be some mischief
in the city. And, when he went up to the gaol, those who had become
disciples along with Sharbil
continued with him.
And after many days were passed the judge rose up in the morning and went
down to his
judgement-hall, in order that he might hear the case of Barsamya. And the
judge commanded, and
they brought him from the prison; and he came in and stood before him. The
officers said: Lo, he
standeth before thine Excellency.
The judge said: Art thou Barsamya, who hast been made ruler and guide of
the
people of the
Christians, and didst make a disciple of Sharbil, who was chief-priest of
the gods, and used to
worship them?
Barsamya said: It is I who have done this, and I do not deny it; and I am
prepared to die for the
truth of this.
The judge said: How is it that thou wast not afraid of the command of the
emperors, so that, when
the emperors commanded that every one should sacrifice, thou didst induce
Sharbil, when he was
standing and sacrificing to the gods and offering incense to them, to deny
that which he had
confessed, and confess Christ whom he had denied?
Barsamya said: I was assuredly made a shepherd of men, not for the sake of
those only who are
found, but also for the sake of those who have strayed from the fold of
truth, and become food for
the wolves of paganism; and, had I not sought to make Sharbil a disciple,
at
my hands would his
blood have been required; and, if he had not listened to me, I should have
been innocent of his
blood.
The judge said: Now, therefore, since thou hast confessed that it was thou
that madest Sharbil a
disciple, at thy hands will I require his death; and on this account it is
right that thou rather than he
shouldest be condemned before me, because by thy hands he has died the
horrible deaths of
grievous tortures for having abandoned the command of the emperors and
obeyed thy words.
Barsamya said: Not to my words did Sharbil become a disciple, but to the
word of God which He
spoke: "Thou shalt not worship images and likenesses of men." And it is
not
I alone that am content
to die the death of Sharbil for his confession of Christ, but also all the
Christians, members of the
church, are likewise eager for this, because they know that they will
secure
their salvation before
God thereby.
The judge said: Answer me not in this manner, like Sharbil thy disciple,
lest thine own torments be
worse than his; but promise that thou wilt sacrifice before the gods on
his
behalf.
Barsamya said: Sharbil, who knew not God, I taught to know [Him]: and dost
thou bid -me-, who
have known God from my youth, to renounce God? God forbid that I should do
this thing!
The judge said: Ye have made the whole creation disciples of the teaching
of
Christ ; and lo ! they
renounce the many gods whom the many worshipped. Give up this way of
thinking, [Lit. "this mind"]
lest I make those who are near tremble at thee as they behold thee to-
day,
and those also that are
afar off as they hear of the torments to which thou art condemned.
Barsamya said: If God is the help of those who pray to Him, who is he that
can resist them? Or
what is the power that can prevail against them? Or thine own threats --
what can they do to them :
to men who, before thou give commandment concerning them that they shall
die, have their death
[already] set before their eyes, and are expecting it every day?
The judge said : Bring not the subject of Christ before my judgment- seat
;
but, instead of this, obey
the command of the emperors, who command to sacrifice to the gods.
Barsamya said: Even though we should not lay the subject of Christ before
thee, [yet] the sufferings
of Christ are portrayed and fixed in the worshippers of Christ ; and, even
more than thou hearkenest
to the commands of the emperors, do we Christians hearken to the commands
of
Christ the King of
kings.
The judge said: Lo ! thou hast obeyed Christ and worshipped him up to this
day : henceforth obey
the emperors, and worship the gods whom the emperors worship.
Barsamya said: How canst thou bid me renounce that in which I was born ?
when lo ! thou didst
exact [punishment] for this at the hand of Sharbil, and saidst to him :
Why
has thou renounced the
paganism in which thou wast born, and confessed Christianity to which thou
wast a stranger ? Lo !
even before I came into thy presence thou didst thyself give testimony [on
the matter] beforehand,
and saidst to Sharbil : the Christians, to whom thou art gone [over], do
not
renounce that in which
they were born, but continue in it. Abide, therefore, by the word, which
thou hast spoken.
The judge said: Let Barsamya be scourged, because he has rebelled against
the command of the
emperors, and has caused those also who were obedient to the emperors to
rebel with him.
And, when he had been scourged by five men he said to him: Reject not the
command of the
emperors, nor insult the emperor's gods.
Barsamya said: Thy mind is greatly blinded, O judge, and so also is that
of
the emperors who gave
thee authority; nor are the things that are manifest seen by you; nor do
ye
perceive that lo! the whole
creation worships Christ; and thou sayest to me, Do not worship Him, as if
I
alone worshipped Him
-- Him who the watchers above worship on high.
The judge said: But if ye have taught men to worship Christ, who is that
has
persuaded those above
to worship Christ?
Barsamya said: Those above have themselves preached, and have taught those
below concerining
the living worship of the King Christ, seeing that they worship Him, and
His
Father, together with
His divine Spirit.
The judge said: Give up these things which your writings teach you, and
which ye teach also to
others, and obey those things which the emperors have commanded, and spurn
not their laws -- lest
ye be spurned by means of the sword from the light of this venerable sun.
Barsamya said: The light which passeth away and abideth not is not the
true
light, but is only the
similitude of that true light, to whose beams darkness cometh not near,
which is reserved and
standeth fast for the true worshippers of Christ.
The judge said: Speak not before me of anything else instead of that about
which I have asked thee,
lest I dismiss thee from life to death, for denying this light which is
seen
and confessing that which is
not seen.
Barsamya said: I cannot leave alone that about which thou askest me, and
speak of that about
which thou dost not ask me. It was thou that spakest to me about the light
of the sun, and I said
before thee that there is a light on high which surpasses in its
brightness
that of the sun which thou
dost worship and honour. For an account will be required of thee for
worshipping thy fellow
creature instead of God thy Creator.
The judge said: Do not insult the very sun, the light of creatures, nor
set
thou at nought the command
of the emperors, nor contentiously resist the lords of the country, who
have
authority in it.
Barsamya said: Of what avail is the light of the sun to a blind man that
cannot see it? For without the
eyes of the body, [we know], it is not possible for its beams to be seen.
So
that by this thou mayest
know that it is the work of God, forasmuch as it has no power of its own
to
show its light to the
sightless.
The judge said: When I have tortured thee as thou deservest, then will I
write word about thee to
the Imperial government, reporting what insult thou hast offered to the
gods, in that thou madest a
disciple of Sharbil the priest, one who honoured the gods, and that ye
despise the laws of the
emperors, and that ye make no account of the judges of the countries, and
live like barbarians,
though under the authority of the Romans.
Barsamya said: Thou dost not terrify me by these things which thou sayest.
It is true, I am not in the
presence of the emperors to-day; yet lo! before the authority which the
emperors have given thee I
am now standing, and I am brought to trial, because I said, I will not
renounce God, to whom the
heavens and the earth belong, nor His Son Jesus Christ, the King of all
the
earth.
The judge said: If thou art indeed assured of this, that thou art standing
and being tried before the
authority of the emperors, obey their commands, and rebel not against
their
laws, lest like a rebel
thou receive the punishment of death.
Barsamya said: But if those who rebel against the emperors, even when they
justly rebel, are
deserving of death, as thou sayest; for those who rebel against God, the
King of kings, even the
punishment of death by the sword is too little.
The judge said: It was not that thou shouldest expound in my
judgement-hall
that thou wast brought
in before me, because the trial on which thou standest has but little
concern with expounding, but
much concern with the punishment of death, for those who insult the
emperors
and comply not with
their laws.
Barsamya said: Because God is not before your eyes, and ye refuse to hear
the word of God; and
graven images that are of no use, "which have a mouth and speak not," are
accounted by you as
though they spake, because your understanding is blinded by the darkness
of
paganism in which ye
stand--
The judge [interrupting] said: Leave off thosse things thou art saying,
for
they will not help thee at all,
and worship the gods, before the bitter [tearing of] combs and harsh
tortures come upon thee.
Barsamya said: Do thou too leave off the many questions which lo! thou
askest me, and at once give
command for the stripes and the combs with which thou dost menace me: for
thy words will not
help thee so much as thy inflictions will help me.
The judge said: Let Barsamya be hanged up and torn with combs.
And at that very moment there came to him letters from Alusis the chief
proconsul, father of
emperors [probably Lusius Quietus, Trajan's general in the East]. And he
commanded, and they
took down Barsamya, and he was not torn with combs; and they took him
outside of the hall of
judgement.
And the judge commanded that the nobles, and the chief persons, and the
princes, and the
honourable persons of the city, should come before him, that they might
hear
what was the order
that was issued by the emperors, by the hand of the proconsuls, the rulers
of the countries under the
authority of the Romans. And it was found that the emperors had written by
the hand of the
proconsuls to the judges of the countries: "Since our Majesty commanded
that
there should be a
persecution against the people of the Christians, we have heard and
learned,
from the Sharirs whom
we have in the countries under the dominion of our Majesty, that the
people
of the Christians are
persons who eschew murder, and sorcery, and adultery, and theft, and
bribery
and fraud, and those
things for which the laws of our Majesty also exact punishment from those
who commit them. We,
therefore, in our impartial justice, have commanded that on account of
these
things the persecution
of the sword shall cease from them, and that there shall be rest and
quietness in all our dominions,
they continuing to minister according to their custom and no man hindering
them. It is not, however,
towards them that we show clemency, but towards their laws, agreeing as
they
do with the laws of
our Majesty. And, if any man hinder them after this our command, that
sword
which is ordered by
us to descend upon those who despise our command, the same do we command
to
descend upon
those who despise this decree of our clemency."
And, when this command of the emperor's clemency was read, the whole city
rejoiced that there
was quietness and rest for every man. And the judge commanded, and they
released Barsamya, that
he might go down to his church. And the Christians went up in great
numbers
to the judgement-hall,
together with a great multitude of the population of the city, and they
received Barsamya with great
and exceeding honour, repeating psalms before him, according to their
custom; there went also the
wives of the chief of the wise men. And they thronged about him, and
saluted
him, and called him
"the persecuted confessor," "the companion of Sharbil the martyr." And he
said to them: Persecuted
I am, like yourselves; but from the tortures and combs of Sharbil and his
companions I am clean
escaped. And they said to him: We have heard from thee that a teacher of
the
church has said, "The
will, according to what it is, so is it accepted." [2 Cor. 8:12] And, when
he was entered into the
church, he and all the people that were with him, he stood up and prayed,
and blessed them and
sent them away to their homes rejoicing and praising God for the
deliverance
which He had wrought
for them and for the church.
And the day after Lysinas the judge of the country had set his hand to
these
Acts, he was dismissed
from his authority.
I, Zenophilus, and Patrophilus are the notaries who wrote these Acts,
Diodorus and Euterpes, Sharirs
of the city, bearing witness with us by setting-to their hand, as the
ancient laws of the ancient kings
commanded.