St Colluthus was tried and executed in the Great Persecution ordered by the emperor Diocletian, in May 304. Unusually we have a near-exact transcript of his appearance before the Roman provincial governor. This was Satyrus Arianus, whose activity against the church is recorded in a number of papyri. The opening and closing paragraphs are clearly later additions, perhaps rubrics.
Unlike the dreary fictional martyrdoms, in which the saint is insolent, gives long speeches full of bible quotes, miracles take place, and the prosecutor is a pantomime villain, this account shows the banal reality of such persecutions. A superficially genial prosecutor tries to break down the resistance of the victim with a mixture of fake reasonableness, social pressure, gas-lighting and victim-blaming. The tactic was doubtless used many times before on men of some social class – Colluthus was a physician – and probably effectively. In response the saint wisely says as little as possible.
The translation here has been extracted from E.A.E. Reymond and J.W.B. Barns (edd.), Four martyrdoms from the Pierpont Morgan Coptic codices, Oxford (1973), pp.145-150 and 11-13. This is a difficult book to access and use, but is full of good things. I have removed formatting elements likely to obstruct the general reader. The footnotes are mainly mine. (The professional reader should of course access the printed book, not this post.)
Translation
The martyrology of the holy martyr of Christ Colluthus, and the physician and healer of every one who partakes of the body and blood of Christ in purity; he fulfilled his contest on the twenty-fourth day of Pashons;[1] in God’s peace, Amen.
It happened in the twentieth year of the emperors Diocletian and Maximinian (sic), the transgressors, and in the third year of Constantine, on the twenty-fourth day of Pashons,[2] that the holy Colluthus was set upon the tribunal of Antinoou.[3]
Arianus the governor said to the holy Colluthus, “If you want to be saved, do sacrifice, and you shall live. All these people present are praying for you to see sense. If shame is what restrains you, arising from vanity, well, now, show some shame before me; do sacrifice, and you will be saved. For so far you have shown no shame before any one worth your shame. Colluthus, reverence the Emperor’s gods, so that you do not perish miserably.”
The holy Colluthus answered, “The glory of this world is temporal, but the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven is eternal life.”
The governor said to him, “The tortures of the law-court are many and if there were some one present today accusing you, you would do your best not to be defeated in any argument; do not accuse your own self, and kill yourself. For your own people who are present are grieved for your sake. Let them see you sacrifice, and rejoice with you. Moreover, the administrator of lodgement[4]—that is, myself—has won no credit for his place of giving lodgement for this matter. Let every one see your good sense and admire you.
“Moreover, if there is any affair or consideration between you and any one, that other person will certainly be present to your discomfiture;[5] do not spite your own self. For when death comes peacefully and naturally, people console themselves, for they call it ‘the lot of mankind’, since it is the fate of every one; but in this place where you are now sentence is passed upon murderers and temple robbers and violators of graves and debauchees and adulterers and villains—no respectable person is brought out from here and destroyed. But if there is any one who has flouted the law, it is evident to every one that what has betrayed such a person is not wisdom, but an insanity of conceit; just as robbers are reckless of death for robbery’s sake.
“Now I have been lenient with you so far, so that you may see sense and live a life of liberty like any free man. . . . Colluthus, why don’t you speak to me when I am speaking to you?”
The holy Colluthus said, “It is not fitting for me to make a long speech before a governor.”
The governor said to him, “Do sacrifice, Colluthus!”
The saint said, “I will not sacrifice”
The governor said to him, “Indeed you have not obeyed me and sacrificed to the gods about whom the Emperor has written to me. I shall consume your body by fire. But this shall not happen yet, in case you wish to consider with yourself.”
The saint answered, “I have already considered with myself before I came here to you.”
The advocates said to him, “Grant him a few days, if you please.” Arianus said to the advocates, “He looks to me as if he wants to, and has changed his mind.” The governor said to him, “Do you want to wait a few days, to think the matter over? For I can see it in your face—it shows me that you want to be saved.”
The saint made no answer at all. . .
The governor said to him, “Are you ashamed to admit it?”
The saint said to him, “A word is enough to the wise.”[6]
The governor had the fire laid before the blessed Colluthus. The governor said to them[7], “Stop, don’t do him any harm yet.”
Then the governor turned to the holy Colluthus and said to him, “Be sensible now, and do as you are told. There was Apollonius, the bishop of Siout;[8] his people were most understanding about him, and took a dignified view of his prudence, since he did not wish to be disobedient, or to be brought to court and hear all this rigmarole, but he proceeded of his own accord into the temple and sacrificed in full view of every one, with the vessels of libation in his hand, standing there and offering up sacrifice; he is not at all ashamed, and every one honours him. . . . Well now, speak to me, Colluthus, and you shall be in especial honour. . . . Then there was Plutarchus, the bishop of Sbeht;[9] this man for the excellence of his wisdom is worthy of all respect. He was prudent and reverenced the Emperor’s gods, and offered up sacrifice to them; and look at him now! He is alive, with every one who sacrificed with him, and is bishop over them. As for you, Colluthus, it is a governor who is pleading with you, and advising you! The governorship has humbled itself for you. Let it be enough to have done what you have in the matter of the books, when you were persuaded by your God and did not burn them.[10]
“There was a man here today on a charge of murder. That man wants to live; but as for you, Colluthus, something evil possesses you, to make you destroy yourself with murderers! Don’t you see the beauty of this pleasant weather? There will be no pleasure to come your way if you kill your own self. But listen to me and you will be saved.”
The holy Colluthus said to him, “The death which is coming to me is more pleasant than the life which you would give me,”
The governor said to him, “So you do not realize that I have authority to chastise you? Come now, use your reason like a sensible man, and listen to me.”
The holy Colluthus said to him, “Whoever listens to you will bring his own death upon himself. But I will not forsake my Lord Jesus Christ.”
The governor said to him, “Look at all these people with their tears streaming down as they see you standing on the tribunal—and you have shown no pity on your own self, but you are disobedient. Now, listen to me and sacrifice, and you shall live.”
The saint said to him, “This life is indeed no life to me, but death.”
And straightway he ordered him to be set up on the rack.[11]
The governor said to him, “You do not need any one to ask you— do you want me to grant you some more days?”
Besamon the advocate said, “Yes, that is his wish.”
The governor said to him, “What do you want? Say, and I will do it for you.”
Jeremias the chief advocate said, “My lord, this is indeed what he wishes—that you should bear with him for a few days more; for his silence tells us this; (we know) from his demeanour.”
The governor said, “Colluthus, why don’t you speak? Which do you want me to do—to sentence you, or to be lenient with you?”
The righteous man said to him, “Do what you like.”
The governor said to him, “Thus far till now I have been lenient with you. If you for your part will only be lenient with yourself, then I shall be all the more pleased.”
The saint said to him, “Your kindness constrains me to say a word more.”
The governor said to him, “Now I have begun to hear a good word from you. For this kind of speech tells me that you want me to leave you for a few more days.”
The holy Colluthus said to the governor, “What are these words of comfort which you are saying? I will no longer listen to you and be misled so as to forsake my God; but I am rather confirmed in His Faith. And I am ready to bear anything for the sake of His holy Name; for the torments of this world are nothing, but the torments of God are great, and eternal, and there is none who shall be able to hide in His presence.”
The governor ordered a great stone to be hung upon his neck. The governor said to him, “Colluthus, do not say a word to me about anything but the matter which we are hoping for—that you will obey the law of the Emperors.” But the saint spoke no word at all.
The governor said to him, “Think scorn of this vain glory which will be of no profit to you! Turn now, man, and take for yourself a glory worthy of respect.”
The saint said to him, “The glory of my Lord Jesus Christ will preserve me for ever.”
The governor said to him, “We are not demanding from you a contest of words with us, but we are demanding from you an urgent matter—that you should be persuaded by us and sacrifice to the gods. Well, then, consider with yourself.”
The holy Colluthus said to him, “Do not detain me any more.”
The governor said to him, “You have been ordered to be wise and not show contempt of the court. “
The holy Colluthus said to him, “I have been wise all the time; and I came here in pursuit of the wisdom of my Lord Jesus Christ.”
The governor said to the members of the entourage, “There, you see; I have used every possible means with him in the hope of saving him; and you see how he would not listen and be saved. I am just not going to tolerate him for another single moment.”
The members of the entourage said, “Sentence him; he deserves to die, for he has dared to mislead us, and he made us a promise and broke it, when he mocked us and did not sacrifice.”
The holy Colluthus said to them, “I said no word which it was not proper to say.”
The governor said to him, “Sacrifice and be sensible.”
The saint said to him, “I will not sacrifice, neither will I listen to your stupid arguments.”
The governor was angry, and said to him, “If you will not sacrifice, hear your sentence, which you have earned: I order you to be burned alive.”
The holy Colluthus said, “I thank You, my Lord Jesus Christ, that I have been deemed worthy of Your grace, to die for the sake of Your holy Name.”[12] And he was taken out to be burned.
Now that day was the twenty-fourth of the month Pashons, and the holy Colluthus fulfilled his martyrdom, and his soul was taken up to heaven in glory, and he made festival with the angels, and all the saints rejoiced with him through the grace and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ; with whom is the glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever, Amen.
Footnotes
[1] May 19th – in the Coptic Synaxarion it is Bashons 25th.
[2] May 304. The earliest certainly known date for Arianus as provincial governor (Praeses) of the Thebaid is 305/6; see P. Oxy. 2665. This is one of a number of administrative letters about seizing church property. In this case it involves seizing the personal property of a Christian named Paulus. He has already been sentenced by Arianus, who is named as the “hegemon of the Thebaid, Satrius Arianus” (τοῦ διασημοτάτου ἡγουμένου Θ̣η̣βαίδος Σατρίου Ἀριανου). The officials write that there is no evidence in the land registry that Paulus owns any property. Transcription URL: https://papyri.info/current/16870. Translation with assistance from ChatGPT: “In the consulship of our lords the Emperors Constantius and Maximian, the Augusti…
To Aurelius Hierakion, also called Dionysius, gymnasiarch and councillor, and to … prytanis of the illustrious and most illustrious city of the Oxyrhynchites, and to …mus, gymnasiarch, and to Sarapion, advocates (syndikoi) of the same city. We, Aurelius …, also called Heraclianus, formerly high priest, and Agathinus, exegete, both councillors of the same city and custodians of the archives of the same nome, send greetings to our esteemed friends.
You have written to us stating that Aurelius Athanasius, procurator of the privata in Egypt, had ordered—through the letter which he wrote in accordance with the divine command of our sovereign Emperors and Caesars, and in accordance with the letters sent to him by Neratius Apollonides—that the property belonging to Paulus, from the Oxyrhynchite nome, should, pursuant to the decision submitted by the most distinguished governor of the Thebaid, Satrius Arianus, be transferred to the accounts of the treasury and that a written report should be furnished.
Therefore, having investigated thoroughly using the records deposited in the archives, we declare that Paulus possesses nothing, nor is he registered in any way in the records deposited in the archives, nor do we know that his wife has anything; the aforesaid Paulus does not appear to be registered in the same records in the public archives.
(Second hand:) I pray that you remain well, dear friends.
(First hand:) Dated in the year … of our lords Constantius and Maximian, the Augusti, and of Maximinus, most illustrious Caesars …”
[3] Antinoupolis, or Antinoe. In Colluthus 2, the trial is at Shmoun (Hermopolis Magna).
[4] A legal term for the court-proceedings.
[5] Colluthus seems to have been informed against, and Arianus indicates that his accuser is present.
[6] This Christian response to attempts to entrap them may originate (H. Chadwick, JTS NS 20 (1969), 645) in the New Comedy.
[7] Lit. “him”.
[8] The recipient of a letter from Peter of Alexandria, condemning his conduct. Published with translation in J. Barns & H. Chadwick, “A letter ascribed to Peter of Alexandria,” in: Journal of Theological Studies, New Series 24 (1973) pp. 443-455. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23962128
[9] Otherwise unknown.
[10] Diocletian’s edict to burn Christian scriptures.
[11] ἑρμητάριον, hermetarion/ermetarion. A torture rack or iron bed, but a machine of some complexity which frequently goes wrong in martyrdoms by divine intervention. The definition in Lampe, “stake”, is misleading.
[12] These final words of Colluthus are not found in the Berlin palimpsest which also contains a version of the same text.
Thanks for posting this, Roger. I wish I’d known about it years ago. I used to teach a course in Roman paganism (including Middle Eastern adopted cults and Greek philosophical religion, e.g., Middle Platonism) and the last three weeks were devoted to the pagan/Christian conflict. I would have assigned this very interesting piece as a reading. I’ve passed it on to the adjunct (the new normal of American higher education) faculty member who’s taught the course since my retirement. Again, many thanks.
Thank you! I had never heard of this useful item either, and discovered it purely by chance. I think there’s a whole bunch of material of this kind out there, with linked material in papyri, which has completely passed under my radar.