Übersetzung
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The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas
6.
"After a few days, whilst we were all praying, on a sudden, in the middle of our prayer, there came to me a word, and I named Dinocrates; and I was amazed that that name had never come into my mind until then, and I was grieved as I remembered his misfortune. And I felt myself immediately to be worthy, and to be called on to ask on his behalf. 1 And for him I began earnestly to make supplication, and to cry with groaning to the Lord. Without delay, on that very night, this was shown to me in a vision. 2 I saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid colour, and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age 3 who died miserably with disease--his face being so eaten out with cancer, that his death caused repugnance to all men. For him I had made my prayer, and between him and me there was a large interval, 4 so that neither of us could approach to the other. And moreover, in the same place where Dinocrates was, there was a pool full of water, having its brink higher than was the stature of the boy; and Dinocrates raised himself up as if to drink. And I was grieved that, although that pool held water, still, on account of the height to its brink, he could not drink. And I was aroused, and knew that my brother was in suffering. But I trusted that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show. Then was the birth-day of Geta Caesar, and I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me.
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[The story in 2 Maccab. xii. 40-45, is there narrated as a thought suggested to the soldiers under Judas, and not discouraged by him, though it concerned men guilty of idolatry and dying in mortal sin, by the vengeance of God. It may have occurred to early Christians that their heathen kindred might, therefore, not be beyond the visitations of the Divine compassion. But, obviously, even were it not an Apocryphal text, it can have no bearing whatever on the case of Christians. The doctrine of Purgatory is that nobody dying in mortal sin can have the benefit of its discipline, or any share in the prayers and oblations of the Faithful, whatever.] ↩
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"Oromate." [This vision, it must be observed, has nothing to do with prayers for the Christian dead, for this brother of Perpetua was a heathen child whom she supposed to be in the Inferi. It illustrates the anxieties Christians felt for those of their kindred who had not died in the Lord; even for children of seven years of age. Could the gulf be bridged and they received into Abraham's bosom? This dream of Perpetua comforted her with a trust that so it should be. Of course this story has been used fraudulently, to help a system of which these times knew nothing. Cyprian says expressly: "Apud Inferos confessio, non est, nec exomologesis illic fieri potest." Epistola lii. p. 98. Opp. Paris, 1574. In the Edinburgh series (translation) this epistle is numbered 51, and elsewhere 54.] ↩
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[There is not the slightest reason to suppose that this child had been baptized: the father a heathen and Perpetua herself a recent catechumen. Elucidation.] ↩
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"Diadema," or rather "diastema." [Borrowed from Luke xvi. 26. But that gulf could not be passed according to the evangelist.] ↩
Übersetzung
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Die Akten der Hl. Perpetua und Felizitas (BKV)
7.
Nach wenigen Tagen, während wir alle beteten, brach mir plötzlich mitten im Gebete die Stimme hervor und ich nannte den Dinokrates. Ich staunte, daß er mir nie in den Sinn gekommen war als nur in diesem Augenblicke, und ich dachte mit Trauer an sein Schicksal. Ich erkannte auch sofort, daß ich würdig sei S. 334 und für ihn beten müsse, und fing an, für ihn viele Gebete zu sprechen und zum Herrn zu seufzen. Sofort noch in derselben Nacht hatte ich folgendes Gesicht. Ich sehe den Dinokrates aus einem finsteren Orte, wo viele ganz erhitzt und durstig waren, in schmutziger Kleidung und blasser Farbe hervorkommen mit einer Wunde im Gesicht, die er hatte, als er starb. Dieser Dinokrates war mein leiblicher Bruder, der im Alter von sieben Jahren aus Schwäche wegen eines Krebsleidens im Gesichte elend starb, so daß sein Tod allen Menschen ein Abscheu war. Für diesen also hatte ich gebetet, und es war zwischen mir und ihm ein großer Zwischenraum, so daß wir beide nicht zueinander kommen konnten. Es war ferner an dem Orte, an welchem Dinokrates sich befand, ein Bassin voll Wasser, dessen Rand aber höher war als die Größe des Knaben, und Dinokrates streckte sich aus, als ob er trinken wollte. Ich war traurig darüber, daß jenes Bassin voll Wasser war und er doch wegen der Höhe der Umfassung nicht trinken konnte. Da erwachte ich und wurde inne, daß mein Bruder leide; aber ich vertraute, daß ich seiner Not abhelfen werde, an all den Tagen, bis wir in den Kerker des Lagers übersiedelten; denn bei den Spielen nahe dem Lager sollten wir kämpfen; es war damals der Geburtstag des Cäsars Geta. Und ich betete S. 335 für ihn Tag und Nacht mit Seufzen und Tränen, damit er mir geschenkt werde.
