8 July
303 A.D. Precopius, 1st of Palestine Martyrs
No
author. “Procopius, First of the Palestine Martyrs.” Christianity.com. Jul 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/procopius-first-of-the-palestine-martyrs-11629634.html. Accessed 7 May 2014.
When the Roman Emperor Diocletian launched the last
and most ruthless of the ten Roman persecutions against Christians, his first victim in Palestine
was a young man named Procopius. Eusebius was alive at the time. The Christian
author, who became bishop of Caesarea and wrote the most famous history of the
early church, left an account of the martyr:
"The first of all the martyrs who appeared in
Palestine was named Procopius. In truth he was a godly man, for even before his
confession he had given up his life to great endurance: and from the time that
he was a little boy had been of pure habits, and of strict morals: and by the
vigor of his mind he had so brought his body into subjection, that, even before
his death, his soul seemed to dwell in a body completely mortified, and he had
so strengthened his soul by the word of God that his body also was sustained by
the power of God. His food was bread only, and his drink water; and he took
nothing else besides these two. Occasionally he took food every second day
only, and sometimes every third day; oftentimes too he passed a whole week
without food.
"But he never ceased day nor night from the
study of the word of God: and at the same time he was careful as to his manners
and modesty of conduct, so that he edified by his meekness and piety all those
of his own standing. And while his chief application was devoted to divine
subjects, he was acquainted also in no slight degree with natural science. His
family was from Baishan; and he ministered in the orders of the Church in three
things: First, he had been a Reader; and in the second order he translated from
Greek into Aramaic; and in the last, which is even more excellent than the
preceding, he opposed the powers of the evil one, and the devils trembled
before him.
"Now it happened that he was sent from Baishan
to our city Caesarea, together with his brother confessors. And at the very
moment that he passed the gates of the city they brought him before the
Governor: and immediately upon his first entrance the judge, whose name was
Flavianus, said to him: 'It is necessary that thou shouldest sacrifice to the
gods': but he replied with a loud voice, 'There is no God but one only, the
Maker and Creator of all things.'
"And when the judge felt himself smitten by
the blow of the martyr's words, he furnished himself with arms of another kind
against the doctrine of truth, and, abandoning his former order, commanded him
to sacrifice to the emperors, who were four in number; but the holy martyr of
God laughed still more at this saying, and repeated the words of the greatest
of poets of the Greeks [Homer], which he said that 'the rule of many is not
good: let there be one ruler and one sovereign.'
"And on account of his answer, which was
insulting to the emperors, he, though alive in his conduct, was delivered over
to death, and forthwith the head of this blessed man was struck off, and an
easy transit afforded him along the way to heaven. And this took place on the
seventh day of the month Heziran, in the first year of the persecution in our
days. This confessor was the first who was consummated in our city
Caesarea."
Over time, Eusebius' simple account became greatly
exaggerated. So many conflicting details were added that the makers of church
calendars became confused and honored three different men named Procopius! His
feast is on this day, July 8.
Bibliography:
1. Barnes, Timothy D. Constantine
and Eusebius. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1981.
2. Eusebius of Caeserea. "The
Confession of Procopius," in On the Martyrs in Palestine. [the public
domain source of our quotation.] http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/
eusebius_martyrs.htm
3. "Procopius of
Scythopilis." Saints O' the Day. http://users.erols.com/saintpat/ss/0708.htm
Last updated July, 2007
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