Atkinson, The Passions and the Homilies from Leabhar Breac (1887) — translated from the Irish. The file contains the icon-passion followed by the Sylvester legend, the conversion of Constantine, an acephalous hermit fragment, and the martyrdom of Abbot Paphnutius and Pope Marcellinus.

The Prologue #

¹ There is a royal city in Asia — Caesarea Cappadociae is its name. There came at that time the venerable and holy elders and the devout leaders of Asia and the greater part of the Christians of the whole East to that city — to Caesarea of Cappadocia; and great multitudes also came from every quarter to the same city. The reason for which that devout assembly of the whole of Great Asia came was to hold a synod and take counsel together, to strengthen and confirm the faith and belief of the Church of the living God.

² When the synod had been held as we have said, and the Church of the living God confirmed without fault, a wondrous question and matter arose among them concerning the blood and the water that came from the side of the Image of Christ; and there was great straying and mighty trouble among them all in the aforementioned city — in Caesarea Cappadociae itself. For that reason the assembly of the holy archbishops of Asia came into one place, that they might expound and understand what that blood and water that came from the side of the Image of Christ might be.

³ While they were thus in one place, and each conversing with the other as their custom was, there arose Nicomedia — the archbishop of the chief city itself of that holy synod — in the presence of all, and said in a loud voice so that all heard him: “O holy fathers,” said he, “and noble wise elders, if it please you, I would relate to you your question from the book that Anastasius, archbishop of Great Alexandria, wrote concerning the case and the question you have, about the blood and the water that came from the Image of Christ.” All the synod answered him, and said: “It is good, and we are well pleased that it should be read, and let us all hear it from you.” Then the bishop raised the book on high, and pronounced the title of the book in the presence of them all; and they all listened to it with one accord there. Here ends the Prologue.

Here begins the little book of Anastasius, archbishop of the city of Alexandria, concerning the passion of the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The account of Anastasius #

⁴ This then was the beginning and commencement of that story, as Anastasius the archbishop of Great Alexandria wrote it, concerning the passion and the torment of the Image of Christ the Son of the living God: how that Image and likeness was crucified and tortured in the city called Beirut in Syria, in the time of Constantine the Younger and his wife Euone. There was this wondrous deed wrought — for there had never been done before nor after a miracle greater or more wondrous than it: as heaven trembled and quaked at Christ’s suffering in the first Passion, and darkness and gloom came over sun and moon and the stars of heaven besides, and the foundations of the abyss were shaken, and a wondrous mighty earthquake, so that it brought the dead alive up again — even so was it done in this second passion of this holy Image of Christ the Son of God.

⁵ Then Anastasius said: “Listen,” said he, “and be silent, and believe and love the things I shall reveal to you, and take them to you with the ear of your heart and your mind, with right full faith and with pure heart. This then is the beginning of our narrative. There is a certain great city in Syria — between Tyre and Sidon — Beirut is its name, near to the great Antioch in Syria; and its multitudes and crowds are past numbering: fitting it is, though its hosts and crowds be many, for the dignity of a metropolis was upon it when this story came to pass.

⁶ Now it befell that a certain Christian man of the people of Jerusalem came to dwell in the great synagogue of the Hebrews that was in the town — for they were all Jews in it at that time. For a man of the town’s people had given a house and dwelling to that Christian of Jerusalem’s people in return for tribute and rent to be paid him. The Christian lived thus, and had the Image of Christ with him unknown to the Jews. Now the story of the image and its origin — who made it or how it came to be — is not told here save at the end of the book below.

⁷ The Christian then went into the little dwelling he had bought from that Jew, and his image with him in it, unknown to anyone that he had it, and unknown to them that he himself was a Christian. When he had gone into the house, he set the image in the wall of his bed, on the side where the head of his bed was. Now the image was thus — as high and as broad as Christ Himself; for Nicodemus, the secret friend of Christ, it was he who made this image in Christ’s likeness, that he might have it always by him to worship; for he found not full freedom of worship toward Christ Himself, since he dared not speak or converse openly with Him for fear of the Jews, as we shall say hereafter.

⁸ Now when the Christian had been a long time in that house with his household, it grew too narrow for him, and he sought a larger place in the city, and found one. He went there, taking with him all the goods he had there save the image alone: he left it there through the foreknowledge and permission of God — and not out of contempt or dishonour toward it, but by the secret counsel of the Lord he left it. For it was God’s will that all His wonders and miracles should be revealed to the people of His belief and faith and His just ones, for the enduring and the increase of the unbelieving and the ungodly.

⁹ A certain Jew came into the little dwelling where the Christian had been, to dwell in it; and he knew not that the image was still there, for he had never seen the place where it lay hid by the Christian in the house.

¹⁰ Now it befell that the Hebrew who was in the house was drinking ale one day, and called to him a man of his own household and kinsman to drink with him. As they were there joyously and pleasantly at their drinking, the man who had come in from without raised his eyes and saw the lordly image secretly in the hiding-place where it stood beside the wall. A great and mighty anger seized him at once, so that his eyes blazed in his head, and he gnashed and bared his teeth at his companion, and said: “What is the reason that you — being a Jew — have the likeness and image of Jesus of Nazars?” Then he uttered great evils and heavy foul insults against the ever-living Saviour — so great and so heavy were the insults and the blasphemies he uttered there against the true God, that the ears and hearts of the just and faithful cannot bear to hear even a part of the evil, the envy and the malice toward Jesus; for neither could Scripture set it in writing, nor does the Church suffer it to be set down.

¹¹ Now that accursed ill-starred Jew called the man who had come in from without to a feast and carousal — for he wished to have peace and full revenge upon the luckless demon-ridden man — and began to relate to him dreadful savage secrets, as was their custom; so that he had never seen the man before, and knew not that he was in his house until then.

¹² The man who had come in from without at the invitation remained long silent; but when he had finished the counsel that was in his mind, he went straight to where the elders of the priests and the leaders of the Jewish people were, and said to them: “Know you that the image of Jesus of Nazars lies hid with there Jew of your own people?” When they heard that they said all together to him: “There is no man in the world who would do the thing you say — it cannot be true.” Then he said with a full oath: “I saw it myself in his house, and I will show it openly to you.” When they heard that, they believed him that it was there — and the tale was welcome to them.

¹³ It was evening then; night was falling upon them, and they kept silence until morning. When the morning of the next day came, the priests and the leaders of the Hebrew people and everyone eldest and lowest, and everyone between them all, came to one place; and they took the man who had made the accusation to the house of the man who had the image, and came together in a body at once. When they had verified that the thing told them was true, and when they saw the image itself, they did heavy reviling and savage insult to him in whose house it was found, and laid wounds and unheard-of torments upon him, and cast him out of the synagogue and out of the city altogether, after scourging him till they left him half dead outside; and they cast the image upon the ground, and said: “A great urge and counsel has come into our ears and into our hearts; and we have heard that our fathers wrought much mocking and blasphemy and many diverse torments upon Jesus of Nazars — let us do the like to this image.”

¹⁴ Then they spat upon the face and countenance of the lordly image, and struck its face with their palms and fists, and said among themselves: “As much as our fathers did to Jesus of Galilee, let us do to this image its like and its equivalent.” And innumerable were the insults and mockeries they did besides upon the image of Jesus, and they said again: “We have heard and have seen written that they put thick iron nails through His feet and hands on the cross; but we — what are we compared with the folk who crucified Jesus? Let us not leave undone a whit of all that they did to Him, but let us do it all to this image.”

¹⁵ Then they crucified the lordly image after the manner of their Lord, and put sharp iron nails through its feet and hands, as had been done to Him in the first Passion. And the more they moved them all to the gall of their cruelty and their violence — as if it had been Christ Himself who was there: “We have heard,” said they, “that our forefathers gave Him a drink of bitter vinegar with gall on the end of a rod — let us do the same to this”; and then they put bitter vinegar with gall on the end of a rod to the image’s mouth. Nor did the malice and violence of their hearts stop there. “We have heard,” said they, “that our elders put a crown of thorns about His head in that crucifixion, and that they struck Him on the head with a rod”; and they likewise put a crown of thorns about its head, and one of them took a rod and struck it still upon the head.

¹⁶ “We have learned,” said they, “that our fathers wounded the side and flank of Jesus; but we — let no one see that we do less to this image than the folk who went before us did to Jesus of Galilee”; and then they told one of the Hebrew men to take a spear with him, and he took it readily, and boldly wounded the image’s side with it.

¹⁷ And when it had been fully given them to work that mighty deed, a great miraculous wonder befell there — the like of which had never been done before, nor a greater miracle: when they wounded the side of that holy image, there came suddenly blood and water out of that great wound in abundance. And indeed, as the elements were shaken at Christ’s suffering there, even so were they shaken here at the suffering of this image of Christ the Son of God; for as heaven trembled of old and the elements were shaken and moved in the first Passion, so was it done here through God’s power and His permission: the bodily elements were shaken and moved — and not only the visible elements were moved in this passion of the Lord’s image, but the very orders of heaven were moved in this mighty, unspeakable deed of the image of Christ.”

¹⁸ Then Anastasius made fervent prayers and great praises to the Lord of the elements for that great miracle wrought upon His image, and said: “Everlasting eternal glory to You, O Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit! For who is there at all like You, and what other God is there who can work such dreadful wondrous deeds and miracles in heaven and earth save You — O wondrous meeting-place of God and man, O only-wise one of one faith, O battle-vanquisher of the world, O Saviour of all goodness, O fount and origin of all grace and concord!

¹⁹ “Who can recount Your humility and Your lowliness, O Jesus? For though you are true God of heaven and earth, You took human flesh for the salvation of the human race, and the ungodly crucified that flesh in a dreadful hideous death — without fear, without dread upon them. And who can tell the greatness of Your gentleness, O Saviour? For when Judas came to Your seizure, You gav him a kiss, and You healed the ear of Melchas, the servant of the chief of the priests, after it had been shorn off by the sword of Peter the apostle, when you were led to Your suffering and Your sacrifice like a gentle lamb. How great then are you, O sole salt of the earth, O Jesus? For when You Yourself were set upon the cross, a spotless offering to the heavenly Father, You mad prayer for the crime of them that crucified You, and this is what You said: “O heavenly Father, forgive them this thing they do, for they know not that it is evil”; and for this You took humanity from the undefiled Virgin, O Jesus, for our healing’s sake; and for us you did suffer the bloody death of the cross besides; and it is You who have one substance and one essence with the heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit; and it is You, the one unbegotten-unmade, who did take upon Yourself our human nature — and we have now crucified Your image and Your likeness.

²⁰ “Glory and honour to You, O Christ, Son of the living God! As you have revealed to us these great miracles, be You a heart-of-gold hearer to us, and accept our faith — for we believe with all our heart and strength and mind, and we come and go all to You; take us to You, O Christ, Son of God.”

²¹ As they said that and many other things, they uttered heavy grievous cries, and all wept bitterly and earnestly before God. Then all the multitudes of the Jews, both young and old, came to the holy church that was in that same town — Beirut is its name — to where that noble reverend saint was, and the man to whom God had given that he should be metropolitan of the chief city — the archbishop and head of devotion and faith of the whole town; and when all the multitudes had come there, they all knelt in his presence, and made their confession to him, and confessed all their sins and their heavy transgression, and bewailed all their evils fully with voices of weeping in the presence of the holy elder.

²² Then he said: “What is the truth and the ground of the tale you have?” Then the holy image was shown to him, and they told him all the wonders and miracles God had wrought through it, and how it was wounded in the side, and blood and water came out of it; and how that blood and water healed every sickness and every disease over the face of all Great Asia; and they told all that to him in order fully.

²³ Then the holy elder asked: “How was it found? Did some other person bring it to you, or where has it been until today?” “A Christian,” said they, “left it in the little dwelling where it lay beside the synagogue, and he himself went to dwell in another place, and took with him everything he had save the image only.” Then the holy elder said: “Let that man be sought for us”; and when he was sought, he was found and brought before the metropolitan, and he asked him: “From where came that holy image to you, or where did you get it, or who made it?”

²⁴ The Christian answered and said: “Nicodemus — the secret friend of Christ, he it was who came to Christ by night, and it was he who made this image in the likeness and the form and the measure of Christ Himself, and had it by him to worship it while he lived; and when Nicodemus was dead he gave it to Gamaliel — the master of Paul the apostle, he it was; when Gamaliel was dying he gave it to James; James gave it to Simon; Simon gave it to Zacchaeus; Judas son of Simon son of Zacchaeus — it is that Zacchaeus who was father of Simon, and Simon father of Judas, with whom the cross was found. Now the image was thus from one good man to another until the vengeance of Titus and Vespasian came upon Jerusalem — forty-three years after Christ’s Passion; from which it is understood that the image was made two years before Christ’s Passion: for it was one-and-forty years from the Passion to the taking of the vengeance, as the Book of the Vengeance itself says — from which this holy image was made two years before Christ suffered.

²⁵ “Now when the beginning of the vengeance came upon the city of Jerusalem, an angel of the God of heaven came to such believers and righteous and Christians and disciples of Christ as were in it, and bade them leave the city of Jerusalem and go into the realm of Agrippa the king — for they need fear nothing there, since he was a friend of the Romans and had received his kingship from them. And when the Christians left Jerusalem with their goods, as the angel had told them, and went into Agrippa’s land — at that time they brought this image with them likewise, and everything else they had there; and it has been in Syria from then until today; and it was I,” said he, “who brought it with me into this land, and my father and mother gave it me at their death.” Such then is the certain course by which this image of Christ the Son of God came from the land of Jerusalem to Syria.

²⁶ When the holy metropolitan heard that true discourse, he was seized with great joy and gladness, and turned his face to the Jews and said: “O Israelites, turn quickly to God, to the Father of all living children, and confess the Son of the heavenly Father together with us, and the Holy Spirit who quickens all souls and hallows them — and render quickly the tribute that is due to Him.” When all the people heard that discourse, they said with a loud bright voice all together: “We believe in God the Father, that He is unbegotten; and in the firstborn Son whom our forefathers crucified; we believe also in the Holy Spirit — that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are true God and one almighty God.”

²⁷ When they had said that, they all knelt in the presence of the righteous metropolitan, and begged pardon and the remission of their sins; and the holy elder took to teaching and instructing them for a long time — those who had never before been baptised in the Christian faith — and they came to him under baptism, and he put a three-day fast upon them for the seven weeks that were coming. Then they asked the holy elder to consecrate the whole synagogue in honour of the Saviour Christ the Son of God; and they all agreed to that, and the Jews’ synagogue was greatly enlarged, and they were all consecrated and baptised and blessed there — Beirut with its territories and districts under baptism as well.

²⁸ After that, they ordained over all the people that were with them noble priests of the law of the Christian faith, to consecrate churches and temples in the name of Christ the Son of God, and in honour of the martyrs who had been martyred by their fathers — and to build temples and burial-places, for the old elders who had been before them had built none of these. And the elder did all that there, and was glad to do it.

²⁹ Then there was great joy and mighty gladness made in the city and in the land besides — for the healing of their bodies and their souls, and for their deliverance from the devil, and for their being brought to the eternal kingdom.

³⁰ Then a question and matter arose for that holy elder, by day and by night — what he should do with there vessel in which the Lord’s blood was, and what order should be given to it afterwards. And this is the counsel that was found: that the everlasting cure of the Lord’s blood should be distributed to all the churches of the world for their healing. So many glass vessels were made by him, and a little of the blood and the water was put into them; and he sent his own household with them through Europe and Asia — and all the wonders and miracles that had been wrought through it in the city of Beirut they were to reveal. And they revealed them all fully in every place they went for everyone. [Thus would the glass vessel be borne by the same holy man — the blood and water of Christ’s side in them, and all this story written with them; and his own speech and the grace and miracles of the image were openly revealed to every church in the world.]

³¹ Then the elder asked a common boon of all the churches to which that healing should be brought — that they should honour the festival of the Lord’s image every year, in the month of November, that is, the ninth month of the Hebrews and the eleventh of the Latins, on the fifth of November — as they would keep Easter or Christmas — with honour and reverence. Finit. Amen.

Of Saint Sylvester the Pope #

³² Now Silvester — a righteous, gentle bishop he was, and a fosterling of the noble priest of Cyrene besides; and it was with him that he learned from the first of his life, and it was his wisdom and his piety that Silvester had. And Silvester was charitable and comely-faced from the beginning of his life.

³³ Now a certain devout friend of his from Antioch came on a pilgrimage to Silvester at Rome — Timotheus was his name; and he set himself at once to make God’s name famous, though the persecution of the Christians in Rome was great there. Good and great was the esteem that Silvester had for what Timotheus did: he turned many of the Romans to faith and belief through Timotheus’s teaching.

³⁴ When Tarquinius — the sub-king of Rome at that time — heard that his people were being turned to faith and belief through Timotheus, Timotheus was seized by him, and he killed him after seizing him. Then Silvester bore Timotheus’s body by night and buried it beside the apostle Paul.

³⁵ Then Tarquinius the sub-king seized Silvester — for he supposed Timotheus’s treasure was with him — and said to Silvester: “Unless you give me all the treasure of the guilty Timotheus, and unless you yourself make sacrifice to my gods, you shall be tormented with various torments.” Then Silvester said to him: “Since you say that it was a guilty martyr of the holy Lord you have slain without cause, you yourself shall be dead this night.” Then Tarquinius commanded Silvester to be seized and heavy chains to be put on him, and him to be cast into the bottom of the prison.

³⁶ When Silvester had been put in the prison thus, he set to praising God without ceasing. Now when Tarquinius the sub-king was eating his meal, God’s vengeance came upon him — a fish-bone stuck in his throat so that he died of it, as Silvester had foretold to him. And when the sub-king was carried to his burial with great cries and heavy grief, the Christians there brought Silvester out of prison with joy and great gladness, and there was consolation for the Christians then, but grief and heavy sorrow for the heathen.

³⁷ Then all Tarquinius’s household came to Silvester under baptism and faith there. At the end of thirty years of his age, deacon’s orders were conferred on him by Miltiades the pope. And God gave him a mighty grace, so that he was no harder for Christians than for heathen. He never did any deed for pride’s sake — for though his body’s food was on earth, his mind and spirit and nature were in heaven. For this was his description: an angelic countenance, fair comely speech, a holy deed, a pure body, a brilliant wisdom, a strong faith, a gentle lowly hope, a bounteous alms, a steadfast counsel to all — he was full of the Holy Spirit’s grace.

³⁸ Now after the death of Miltiades the holy bishop, Silvester was elected into his place by all; and he refused everyone for his youth’s sake, and it was not accepted from him, but he was ordained honourably. And he used to teach the people fully every day — those upon whom he was set through God’s permission and power.

³⁹ Now when Silvester had been in the primacy and the episcopate of Rome as we have said, a question and matter and strife arose between the Greeks who were in Rome and the Latins: the Latins did not eat food on the Sabbath at all, but fasted on it; but the Greeks used to eat food on it according to the custom and usage of the Jews — for they kept a Sabbath of their own.

⁴⁰ Then Silvester ordained for them, both parties alike, honour and dignity for Thursday, as they would give to Sunday — for it was on a Thursday that God first put His body into the pure mystery of bread and wine, and it was then that He went to heaven in His ascension; and every miracle that was wrought then he recounted to them. And he bade them fast on the Sabbath — for it was on it Christ’s body lay in the tomb, and it was on it the apostles and God’s disciples used to fast; and he bade them all fast on it as they were able.

⁴¹ Now there was a monstrous dragon in the Tarpeian mount near Rome at that time. The heathen had built a fair beautiful temple in that mount, and their druids and consecrated virgins used to come in their own order every month, and they brought that dragon full offerings of sacrifices. Now the breath and venom of that dragon corrupted all the air above Rome, so that there was an unbearable plague and mighty torment upon all the Roman people through the venom and demon power of that dragon.

⁴² When that plague and great torment had taken strength and hold upon Rome through devilish persecution, the people of the heathen who were pleading and striving with Silvester came to him, and all said to him together: “Arise,” said they, “in your own God’s name, and go to where the dragon is, and pray it to banish from us for one full year its plague and its vengeance; and then we will believe in your Christ — if only we may find His strength and His power.”

⁴³ Silvester and all the people undertook a three-day fast that God might banish that plague from all the people. And after the day of the fast, Peter the apostle appeared to Silvester in a dream-vision, and said to him: “Take a company of the brethren with you,” said he, “and go to where the dragon is, and make an offering and sacrifice to almighty God there; and when you reach the cave where the devil is, shut the door of the cave upon the outer side, and say as you shut it — thus spoke Peter the apostle: ’the door of this cave shall never be opened for ever, and it shall hurt no one.'”

⁴⁴ He did all as had been told him, and the people were delivered then from the dragon’s venom and plague. And when the heathen and the people of its worship and service saw the cave shut upon it, and that it had no way to do harm, they all came to Silvester under baptism and belief, and confessed the one God without ceasing evermore. Finit. Amen.

Of the Emperor Constantine #

⁴⁵ Now Constantine son of Helena — he was emperor in Rome and over the whole world at that time: it is his story that is told here. It was in his time that a general proclamation was made to the four quarters of the whole world by Constantine, the high emperor of the world. [Silvester then was abbot of Rome when this edict was sent down — added in the margin.] And this was the edict and ordinance that was made then by Constantine: that all Christians everywhere should be compelled and drawn to the worship of idols and images and demons.

⁴⁶ When Silvester, Peter’s co-heir, heard that edict, he went with his household to Mount Soracte near Rome, and remained there in hiding until God should judge him. A mighty multitude of the Christians was slain then for that edict. But God wrought miracles and help upon the Christian Church then, as He does ever, and helped His own body on earth there. And this is how the distress of the Church was relieved at that time: God brought a plague and a mighty scourge upon Constantine the emperor — a heavy incurable leprosy, and boils bursting through his body like mounds, and great lice running through his body, elephant-thick black foul stinking worms coming out of his body, so that he was a bald leper in red anguish and lamentation, his body full of wondrous wounds.

⁴⁷ Then his leeches and his druids and his wise men, his elders and his idol-worshipping priests and all his men of rank, were gathered to give him counsel for his cure and his healing. And this is the counsel that all those companies gave with one place and one counsel: that a great healing-pool should be made in the temple of the idols, and that that healing-pool should be filled with the blood of innocent little children; and when it was hot, that he should bathe in it, and that he would be whole thereafter. And that was everyone’s counsel to him.

⁴⁸ Then the king’s men of rank and his faithful household scattered through the cities and districts and chiefdoms of all Italy, to gather those children for the pouring of their blood into there healing-pool, for the healing of the king as was said. Three thousand little children were gathered then from every quarter, and they all came to Rome for that pool. When the children had come to one place, a special day was appointed for their slaying; and when they were in one place thus, all ready for death, the king came to the temple of the idols with all his hosts, to slay the children.

⁴⁹ Then all the children’s mothers came, and their children with them, their hair loosed about their heads, their eyes red, their breasts and bosoms bare — and all of them in the cry of weeping and the death-shriek, bitterly and hideously. When the king heard the heavy cries and the savage death-shriek, he asked: “What are these great cries of weeping and wailing?” When the cause was told him, his heart turned toward the women, and a great pity and compassion came upon him, and he wept bitterly, the stream of tears running down his cheeks, and said in a loud bright voice so that all heard him saying it: “From a woman’s womb I came,” said he, “and no woman’s son shall be slain by me without cause; for it is better for me — and more seemly — that I alone should go to death for the sake of the multitude than that a multitude should go to death for my sake, whatever healing may be found through it.”

⁵⁰ Then Constantine forbade that great bloodshed to the idol-worshipping pontiffs and the guilty priests who had counselled him. And when the children had been set free thus, the king bade them be given back wholly to their mothers, and said moreover: “The folk who came to me so bitter and sad — let them be sent back to their homes joyful and glad; and let a store of gold and treasure be given them,” said he, “and give them beautiful well-appointed chariots upon swift eager horses; and let neither woman nor child of them go without their full of horses and clothing, et cetera.”

⁵¹ That night, moreover, when the innocent children had been saved from death, the king saw a dream and a vision that night — Paul and Peter coming to him, et dixerunt to him: “We,” said they, “are Peter and Paul, two apostles of God; we have been sent by God to you to give you counsel, whereby the healing of your body and your soul may be found. Send messengers from you for Silvester, the bishop who is in the cave of Mount Soracte fleeing your persecution, and bring him to you with honour and dignity, and hear his counsel and his teaching; and he will reveal to you the healing-pool and the well from which healing shall come to you in body and soul; and you shall be in bliss thereafter without end, for you have had pity on the innocent children.”

⁵² Then the king arose from his sleep, and saw beside him the leech who used to put healing herbs and ointment into his wounds, and the king said to him: “Begone,” said he, “for no human leech shall lay a hand on my healing — but almighty God, He shall be my leech.”

⁵³ When he had said that, he sent messengers from him to Mount Soracte, and Silvester was brought to him there with great honour and reverence. When the king saw him, he rose to meet him and gave him welcome, and said in a loud voice: “I thank almighty God for your coming,” said the king. Silvester answered, and this he said: “O Constantine, great emperor,” said he, “peace and victory from heaven to you.” Constantine said: “I pray and beseech you to tell me truly: have you certain gods, and are they called Peter and Paul?”

⁵⁴ Said Silvester: “Those are not gods at all,” said he, “but servants of the true God and of the one almighty God; and it is He we worship — and it is He who made heaven and earth and all that is in them. Those two,” said Silvester, “are the chiefs of the apostles, and they are foremost in the number of the saints and righteous; and it is through them that the church of the New Testament was first received; and they are now in heaven, and they are the friends of almighty God.”

⁵⁵ Then said Constantine: “please, Silvester, that you tell me what manner of countenance they had — and this is why I ask their likeness of you: that I may know whether it was they who came to me last night, and it was they who said that God had sent them to me.” Then Silvester said to a deacon of his household: “Bring out the images of the apostles”; and when they were brought out, the emperor saw them and said: “It is true — it was their faces and countenances that I saw in the vision I had, and they bade me go from myself to yourself, to the cave that is on Mount Soracte, and to hear your words and your teaching besides; and tell me what I shall do now.”

⁵⁶ Said Silvester: “If you believe in Christ with all your heart, say it.” Said Constantine: “If I did not believe in Him with all my heart, I would never have sent messengers to you at all.” Said Silvester: “Fast then this week; put off your royal garb and your purple clothing, and go into a poor dark corner, and take a lowly penitential garment about you — a garment of hair-cloth, that is, a garment made of goats’ har — and make prostration with your face to the ground, and do a heavy sorrowful penance; for you have slain the saints and servants of God through your ignorance.

⁵⁷ “And let a full edict be made by you quickly throughout the whole world: that the temples of the idols be all scattered, and that no sacrifices be made to them; and free the poor and needy debtors from the royal tax; and open to everyone who is in prison and in bonds with you; and everyone who is in exile and flight, gather them all to their own proper homes. And give a store of food and clothing this week to the poor and needy of God, and to everyone who needs it, and to everyone who asks anything of you.”

⁵⁸ Then Constantine did everything as had been told him; and he was baptised at the end of that week — and when the king went into the water to be baptised, there came suddenly a light of Godhead and a heavenly radiance with sunbeams upon him there, and a great clear brightness came into the water while he was in it. And when the king arose out of the water, he was pure-whole in body and soul; and as clean as his body was of leprosy, so clean was his soul of sins; and he was then clothed in a garment of white linen.

⁵⁹ Then the royal Roman people shouted mightily with great loud voices, and this is what they all said in the one cry: “It is the one God and the true God — Christ the Son of the living God — who has healed the emperor Constantine son of Helena.”

⁶⁰ And this was the edict and proclamation made then by the king: that everyone who would not believe in Christ should be cast out of Rome, or all be put to death there in it. Twelve thousand of them believed that year, besides women and children.

⁶¹ Then Constantine ordained an edict and law upon the Roman people the first day he came from baptism: that whoever should do despite to Christ or to the Church, all his goods should be taken from him and himself banished after it. Then a fair beautiful church was built by Constantine for the people of God and for his household, in the royal palace that he had himself; and he had a mighty honour upon the Christians beyond everyone besides.

⁶² Now when the emperor Constantine had believed in Christ as we have said, and when his mother — Helena the lawful queen — had heard of it, she being in Jerusalem at that time, all the Jews gathered then to Helena, and urged and begged her not to let her son believe in Christ, and they all said: “It is fitter to follow and keep the ancient law of Moses son of Amram.”

⁶³ Then Helena sent a letter from Jerusalem to Rome to her son Constantine — that he should renounce Christ and the faith he had received, and that he should believe in the one God and the true God only — the God of the Hebrews. When the king heard that, and when he saw… [gap: manuscript imperfect]

[Fragment — a hermit’s tale] #

[The following is a mere fragment — the preceding leaf is lost. A hermit recounts to a visitor how he came to the desert:]

…"…your fame of devotion through the whole world.” After that I knelt before him and wept heavily and earnestly, and renounced his name with grief — but he would not let me go from him. “Wait yet, my son,” said he, “God’s will is in it — go tomorrow apart.”

⁶⁴ On the next day he divided the little seed that was there, and gave me half of it; and he wept, and it pleased me a short while. After prayer and blessing me, he turned away from me; and I know not which way he went — but I turned my face westward with the setting of the sun. As for recounting all the hardship I found among beasts and mountains and hills and cliffs and heights, and journeying and sickness and hunger — I will not undertake it, for I cannot tell it all; but God guided me here, and led me on afterwards, and I found there palm there — and it was small then; and the little plot about the palm, and the rill of pure water trickling down from the rock.

⁶⁵ When I had prayed earnestly to God there, I settled there; and I have been sixty years there without seeing man or speaking to anyone in all that time — save you alone now; and I know it was for this God brought you to me, to bury me — for I see that you are God’s servant,” said he. And he said: “It is none now,” said he; and he arose feebly but steadily, and took a little shellful of that water with him, and said his none as he was custom; and I likewise did as is my custom.

⁶⁶ Then I brought to him my four little loaves — for they had remained whole with me; and whether I ate much or little, they still remained whole; and I gave him one of the loaves there. Then he said on seeing it: “Ecce panis angelicus — I am not worthy to touch or taste it”; and though he recognised it, he would not taste it at all — for its nobility and for his own humility. Then he arose and took seven palm-apples and a handful of sweet rich juice for me, and a shell of pure water; and when he urged on me the loaves and the wine I had with me, I did not taste them, while we were together.

⁶⁷ Then after our evensong and our compline, he put a little armful of rushes beneath me, and himself laid his left elbow and his head against the wall of the cave; and the cave was left to me all lit till morning after the hours were done; and we were till terce the next day without any speech at all. And after terce the next day… [the text ends imperfect].

Of Abbot Paphnutius and Pope Marcellinus #

⁶⁸ Now when the emperor Diocletian heard the fame of the devotion and wisdom and faith of Abbot Pasnute, and heard also that it was he who had brought Thais from her whoredom, and the other great miracles God had wrought through him in Egypt and Africa; and when he heard that he was coming at his own summons to preach to him — he knew that he had no other cause for coming but to wreak martyrdom on him; and when he heard that he was coming to Rome, a great fear and dread seized the emperor Diocletian beforehand.

⁶⁹ And when the Romans heard that a holy man had come to them, and heard of his wonders and miracles before he arrived, the Christians went secretly to give him welcome; and the people of every sickness were healed by him, and many idols and images were overthrown in Rome, and he preached and taught God’s word in it, so that many thousands of the Romans believed in him.

⁷⁰ When the emperor Diocletian heard of the progress and profit that Christianity was making through him, hard cruel idol-worshipping messengers were sent to his sister. Yet every savage guilty band that went to seek him — he instructed them, so that they all came under baptism and faith and devotion. Then the emperor grew greatly enraged with him, and he was seized by him in the middle of Rome as he was preaching fully to the hosts; and Abbot Pasnutius was seized then, and everyone who had believed before him — they were all brought to the emperor’s house.

⁷¹ When he had come there with his people into the royal palace, a great earthquake and a counter-blast of fiery wind came there, so that it shook the whole palace, and a great part of it fell upon the king’s household — six hundred of them fell dead there. Then an unbearable fear and dread seized the king himself, so that they all remained silent after his household’s death for the space of three hours or so; and after that the emperor’s anger arose, and many of the Christians were slain, and Abbot Pasnute was seized by them; and he was so holy and noble that they dared not kill him — but they plucked out his right eye from his head, and cut off his right foot beneath him, for they dared not kill him, as we have said.

⁷² Now Marcellus, the pope of Rome at that time — it was by him the healing of Abbot Pasnute was wrought. And Eutitius, as we have said, was abbot in it when… Gaius, after Marcellinus, after him.

⁷³ Now the story of Marcellinus is told here. When the emperor Diocletian heard that Abbot Pasnute was being healed by the pope, a great anger seized him against Marcellinus, and against all the Christians besides; and then a great unbearable persecution arose in the time of that abbot Marcellinus upon the Christian Church. And so heavy and savage was that persecution through the wrath and power of the wicked emperor Diocletian, that seven thousand Christians, both men and women, were slain in the space of forty days.

⁷⁴ However, the terror of that heavy persecution came to the abbot himself — Marcellinus — so that he worshipped the idol through the instigation and counsel of his household and his men of rank. And the whole Christian Church was deeply troubled and confounded thereby, so that the bishops of the East of Europe all gathered to Rome for that cause — from Spain westwards, and from Sicily southwards, from Great Greece over the Tyrrhene Sea northwards, and from every land besides — until almost all the assembled bishops of Europe came to Rome concerning the abbot’s worship of the idol, he being head of God’s Church at that time.

⁷⁵ And the number of that assembly that came there was three hundred and fifteen bishops at one time; and though the persecution of God’s Church was great at that time, all these were not hindered from coming to Rome to bring repentance upon Abbot Marcellinus and to know of him. Now Diocletian had not heard of their coming, and knew it not — through God’s power; for if he had heard it, he would have slain them all. It was in the two hundred and eighty-third year after Christ’s Passion that this wondrous deed was done.

⁷⁶ When that assembly had come from every quarter to Rome as we have said, to know the truth of the tale that had spread over the Church, they celebrated their hours with sighing and weeping and heavy grief, and all asked the abbot — Marcellinus — with bowed heads and red eyes and hearts trembling, in humble fashion yet with reverend honour to him besides: “What is this, O lord,” said they, “is the tale true that has spread to the four quarters of the whole world — that you, and you the co-heir of Peter and head of the Christian Church over the whole world, have bowed down and worshipped the idol, as we have heard? And it is to know the truth of this tale that we have all come in this number.”

⁷⁷ Then a great miraculous flame broke out upon the face and countenance of Abbot Marcellinus; and he wept heavily and earnestly, his face to the ground — and all the bishops, their faces to the ground likewise. Then Marcellinus arose, the flush upon his face, and everyone arose after him; and when they had been a little while silent, Marcellinus said: “The tale you have heard — it is true; and I did worship the idol for fear and through instigation. And judge it,” said he, “for I am ready for confession and repentance, whatever judgement be given on me; and give sentence at once while you are in one place — for it is God who has gathered you from every quarter for my restoration from the demon.”

⁷⁸ The bishops answered him, and this they said — that they would not give judgement or sentence upon Peter’s co-heir and upon the head of all God’s Church, for his nobility: “Yet you have denied,” said they, “as your master Peter the apostle denied — and no other apostle judged him; and who would dare or attempt to judge him? So that afterwards he himself judged himself, as the evangelist says, ’egressus foras flevit amare’ — that is, when Peter had denied his Lord thrice, he went out apart from the apostles, and wept bitterly and sorrowfully, and made it tears of blood; and no one else judged him but himself and God. But we,” said the bishops, “will not judge you at all — but we leave it to your own conscience to judge the judgement you shall give yourself; and see you how you should do it.”

⁷⁹ When Marcellinus heard those words — and the certainty that they would not judge him — then he himself pronounced judgement and repentance upon himself in the presence of them all, saying: “I am Marcellinus, the co-heir of Peter; and for the sin and transgression of the idol-worship that I have done, and for the greatness of my unworthiness and my folly, I pronounce my deposition from this great apostolic office, and declare it vacant and common for ever — whoever shall bring my body to burial, whatever the time I find death; and let no one go beyond that,” said he.

⁸⁰ That then was the judgement he himself gave upon himself in the presence of the bishops and all the orders both lay and clerical who were there, and in the presence of the holy abbot Pasnute after his deliverance — he being lame and one-eyed. When he had given that judgement upon himself as we have said, he rose up quickly, the purple flush upon his face and sharp tears down his cheeks, and said in a loud voice — he standing in the middle of the royal house where the elders we have numbered were: “Stay you there a little while, until I come to you.” They all remained a long time in silence for that.

⁸¹ Then he went suddenly in his hard, vehement step, with few of his household with him; and they knew not which way he went. He went on thus until he reached the royal palace where the emperor Diocletian was, and the nobles of the idol-worshipping kings about him — and he stood in the middle of the royal house, his spiritual flush upon his face. A great silence fell upon the emperor and the nobles who were about him at the sight of him.

⁸² Then Abbot Marcellinus said in a loud voice, so that all heard him saying it: “A Christian am I,” said he; “I declare and confess and profess the name of Christ; and it was not to do honour to you or to demons that are in the idol you worship that I bowed in the demon’s presence before you — but through the instigation and counsel of my men of rank and my household; and I declare now to you that it was not from heart or soul that I did anything that was pleasing to you; and here am I openly in Christ’s name, without old age, without flight.”

⁸³ Now the emperor and the kings remained silent until he had told all his tale; and then the king said: “Since you are a Christian, as you say yourself — the honour and dignity we give to the other Christians, we will give to you also.” Then Diocletian said to his household: “Seize him,” said he, “and take his head off.” And it was done so: Marcellinus was beheaded there, and his body was cast outside — and it lay thirty days unburied, as he himself had said.

⁸⁴ When that tale reached the bishops and the rest of the synod, they gave thanks to almighty God, and each of them went to his own church and dwelling. Then Marcellus was at once ordained by the Romans into his place in the abbacy; and his body lay, as he had said, thirty days and nights unburied.

⁸⁵ At the end of thirty days then, after Marcellus had taken the abbacy, Peter the apostle came to him in a dream-vision, and said to him — he being hard at his abbacy then: “Sleep you, Marcellus?” said Peter to him. “Who are you then?” said Marcellus. “I am Peter the apostle,” said he, “chief of the apostles.” And he said: “O Marcellus, my own body also lies unburied with you — and why is it that you have not buried the other?”

⁸⁶ Marcellus said to him: “O lord,” said he, “your body has long ago been buried with honour and great reverence.” “The body of my father Marcellinus — it is he who shed his own blood openly and went to martyrdom for Christ’s sake and the Church’s — why have you not buried him? And have you not read in the gospel,” said Peter, “Christ’s saying, when He said, “qui se exaltat humiliabitur, et qui se humiliat exaltabitur” — he that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbls himself shall be exalted? Why did you not consider himself, when he himself gave judgement upon himself “that his body should not be buried” — when he had said it, that it was not fitting for him to be put beneath the earth after the deed he had done? Arise quickly, and bury him beside me,” said he; “for those whom martyrdom did not sunder, neither special burial nor honour in heaven or on earth has sundered.”

⁸⁷ Marcellus arose in the morning, and spread the tale to everyone; and then Marcellinus was buried at the feet of Peter the apostle, as he himself had said — in the year two hundred and eighty-seven after Christ’s Passion. Finit.