4.
But speedily was the change from that more kindly reign 1 announced to us; and great was the terror of threatening that was now made to reach us. Already, indeed, the edict had arrived; and it was of such a tenor as almost perfectly to correspond with what was intimated to us beforetime by our Lord, setting before us the most dreadful horrors, so as, if that were possible, to cause the very elect to stumble. 2 All verily were greatly alarmed, and of the more notable there were some, and these a large number, who speedily accommodated themselves to the decree in fear; 3 others, who were engaged in the public service, were drawn into compliance by the very necessities of their official duties; 4 others were dragged on to it by their friends, and on being called by name approached the impure and unholy sacrifices; others yielded pale and trembling, as if they were not to offer sacrifice, but to be themselves the sacrifices and victims for the idols, so that they were jeered by the large multitude surrounding the scene, and made it plain to all that they were too cowardly either to face death or to offer the sacrifices. But there were others who hurried up to the altars with greater alacrity, stoutly asserting 5 that they had never been Christians at all before; of whom our Lord's prophetic declaration holds most true, that it will be hard for such to be saved. Of the rest, some followed one or other of these parties already mentioned; some fled, and some were seized. And of these, some went as far in keeping their faith as bonds and imprisonment; and certain persons among them endured imprisonment even for several days, and then after all abjured the faith before coming into the court of justice; while others, after holding out against the torture for a time, sank before the prospect of further sufferings. 6
This refers to the death of the Emperor Philip, who showed a very righteous and kindly disposition toward the Christians. Accordingly the matters here recounted by Dionysius took place in the last year of the Emperor Philip. This is also indicated by Dionysius in the beginning of this epistle, where he says that the persecution began at Alexandria a whole year before the edict of the Emperor Decius. But Christophorsonus, not observing this, interprets the metabolen tes basileias as signifying a change in the emperor's mind toward the Christians, in which error he is followed by Baronius, ch. 102.--Vales. ↩
In this sentence the Codex Regius reads, to prorrhethen hupo tou Kuriou hemon parabrachu to phoberotaton, etc., ="the one intimated beforetime by our Lord, very nearly the most terrible one." In Georgius Syncellus it is given as e para brachu. But the reading in the text, apophainon, "setting forth," is found in the Codices Maz., Med., Fuk., and Savilii; and it seems the best, the idea being that this edict of Decius was so terrible as in a certain measure to represent the most fearful of all times, viz., those of Antichrist.--Vales. ↩
apenton dediotes. ↩
hoi de demosieuontes hupo ton praxeon egonto. This is rendered by Christophorsonus, "alii ex privatis aedibus in publicum raptati ad delubra ducuntur a magistratibus." But demosieuontes is the same as ta demosia prattontes, i.e., decurions and magistrates. For when the edict of Decius was conveyed to them, commanding all to sacrifice to the immortal gods, these officials had to convene themselves in the court-house as usual, and stand and listen while the decree was there publicly recited. Thus they were in a position officially which led them to be the first to sacrifice. The word praxeis occurs often in the sense of the acts and administration of magistrates: thus, in Eusebius, viii. 11; in Aristides, in the funeral oration on Alexander, ta d' eis praxeis te kai politeias, etc. There are similar passage also in Plutarch's Politika parangelmata, and in Severianus's sixth oration on the Hexameron. So Chrysostom, in his eighty-third homily on Matthew, calls the decurions tous ta politika prattontas. The word demosieuontes, however, may also be explained of those employed in the departments of law or finance; so that the clause might be rendered, with Valesius: "alii, qui in publico versabantur, rebus ipsis et reliquorum exemplo, ad sacrificandum ducebantur." See the note in Migne. ↩
ischurizomenoi here for diischurizomenoi .--Vales. ↩
pros to hexes apeipon. It may also mean, "renounced the faith in the prospect of what was before them." ↩
