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I myself confess to have once been astonished when I first saw the man standing in the midst of a sizable crowd of the church and going through some parts of divine Scripture. For as long as I could only hear his voice, I thought he was reading, as is the custom in the assemblies; but when I got closer and understood what was being done, that all the others were standing around in a circle with healthy eyes, but this one was using only the eyes of his mind, and was simply, like some prophet, uttering oracles and far surpassing those who were strong in body, I was not even able to praise God and marvel at him, and I seemed to see in the deeds themselves a clear and firm proof that, in truth, the only man is not the one who is supposed to exist in the visible body, but the one who exists according to soul and mind, who even when his body was maimed, displayed a virtue greater than his own strength. 13.9 But indeed, while those mentioned were staying in the place designated and were carrying out their usual practices in fasting and prayers and the other ascetic exercises, God, God himself, deemed them worthy to attain the saving perfection, extending a listening right hand to them. But the enemy, being the adversary, since he could no longer bear them being armed so leisurely against him through prayers to God, thought to kill them and remove them from the earth as if they were a nuisance. 13.10 But God allowed him to attempt to do this too, so that at the same time he himself might not be restrained from his wickedness according to his choice, and they might at last receive the prizes for their manifold contests. Thus, then, being thirty-nine in number, by a command of the most unholy Maximinus, they were beheaded in a single day. 13.11 These, then, are the martyrdoms that were completed in Palestine in eight whole years, and such was the persecution in our time. It began with the destruction of the churches, and progressed greatly in the successive uprisings of the rulers, in which the manifold and various contests of those who struggled for piety constituted an innumerable multitude of martyrs in every province, in the regions from Libya and through all of Egypt and Syria and the areas from the east and around as far as the districts of Illyricum. 13.12 For the parts beyond those mentioned—all of Italy and Sicily, Gaul and the regions toward the setting sun as far as Spain, Mauritania, and Africa—did not endure the war for two whole years at the beginning of the persecution, but were deemed worthy of the swiftest visitation of God and of peace, as heavenly providence spared the simplicity and faith of the men. 13.13 That, indeed, which has not even been recorded in the histories from the beginning of the Roman empire, this first happened in our own time against all expectation. For at the time of our persecution the empire was divided in two, and the brothers dwelling in the one part, the one mentioned before, enjoyed peace, while those throughout the rest of the world endured countless upon countless contests. 13.14 But when the divine and heavenly grace showed its visitation to us to be benevolent and merciful, then indeed our rulers, the very ones through whom the acts of war against us were long carried out, changing with a most paradoxical opinion, sang a recantation, extinguishing the conflagration against us with kind edicts and gentle decrees concerning us; and so the recantation must be recorded.

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καταπλαγῆναί ποτε αὐτὸς ὁμολογῶ πρῶτον τὸν ἄνδρα θεασάμενος μέσον ἱκανοῦ πλήθους ἐκκλησίας ἑστῶτα καί τινα μέρη θείας γραφῆς διεξιόντα. ἕως μὲν γὰρ φωνῆς αὐτὸ μόνον ἐπακροᾶσθαί μοι παρῆν, ἀναγινώσκειν, οἷα δὴ ἔθος ἐν ταῖς συνόδοις, τινὰ ἡγούμην· ὡς δὲ ἄγχιστα γενόμενος τὸ πραττόμενον συνεῖδον, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἅπαντας ὑγιέσιν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐν κύκλῳ περιεστῶτας, τοῦτον δὲ μόνοις τοῖς τῆς διανοίας χρώμενον καὶ ἀτεχνῶς οἷά τινα προφήτην ἀποφθεγγόμενον παρὰ πολύ τε πλεονεκτοῦντα τοὺς τὸ σῶμα ἐρρωμένους, οὐδ' ὅπως οὖν δοξάζειν τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἀποθαυμάζειν οἷός τε ἦν, σαφές τε πεῖσμα καὶ βέβαιον αὐτοῖς ἔργοις ἐδόκουν μοι ὁρᾶν, ὅτι δὴ μόνος κατ' ἀλήθειαν οὐχ ὁ ἐν τῷ προφανεῖ σώματι νενομισμένος πέφυκεν ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ' ὁ κατὰ ψυχὴν καὶ διάνοιαν, ὃς καὶ τοῦ σώματος λελωβημένου μείζονα τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς καθ' αὑτὸν δυνάμεως ἐπεδείκνυτο. 13.9 ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοὺς δεδηλωμένους κατὰ τὸν ἀποκριθέντα τόπον διατρίβοντας τά τε συνήθη ἐν ἀσιτίαις καὶ προσευχαῖς καὶ ταῖς λοιπαῖς ἀποτελοῦντας ἀσκήσεσιν, θεὸς μέν, θεὸς αὐτὸς τῆς σωτηρίου τελειώσεως τυχεῖν ἠξίου, δεξιὰν αὐτοῖς ἐπήκοον παρέχων, ὁ δὲ πολέμιος ἐχθρός, ἅτε σχολαίτατα κατ' αὐτοῦ διὰ τῶν πρὸς θεὸν εὐχῶν ὁπλιζομένους μηκέθ' οἷός τε φέρειν, κτείνειν καὶ μεταίρειν ἀπὸ γῆς ὡς ἂν ἐνοχλοῦντας ἐνόμιζεν. 13.10 θεὸς δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τοῦτο πράττειν ἐγχειροῦντι συνεχώρει, ὡς ὁμοῦ γε αὐτὸς τῆς αὐτοῦ κατὰ προαίρεσιν μὴ εἴργοιτο πονηρίας ἐκεῖνοί τε τῶν πολυτρόπων ἀγώνων ἤδη ποτὲ ἀπολάβοιεν τὰ βραβεῖα. ταύτῃ οὖν ἑνὸς δέοντες τὸν ἀριθμὸν τεσσαράκοντα νεύματι τοῦ παναγεστάτου Μαξιμίνου ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀποτέμνονται. 13.11 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τὰ κατὰ Παλαιστίνην ἐν ὅλοις ἔτεσιν ὀκτὼ συμπερανθέντα μαρτύρια καὶ τοιοῦτος ὁ καθ' ἡμᾶς διωγμός, ἀρξάμενος μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν καθαιρέσεως, εἰς μέγα δὲ προκόψας ἐν ταῖς κατὰ χρόνους τῶν ἀρχόντων ἐπαναστάσεσιν, ἐν αἷς πολύτροποι καὶ πολυειδεῖς τῶν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἠθληκότων ἀγῶνες ἀνήριθμόν τι πλῆθος μαρτύρων κατὰ πᾶσαν ἐπαρχίαν συνεστήσαντο ἐν τοῖς ἀπὸ Λιβύης καὶ δι' ὅλης Αἰγύπτου Συρίας τε καὶ τῶν ἀπ' ἀνατολῆς καὶ κύκλῳ μέχρι τῶν κατὰ τὸ Ἰλλυρικὸν κλίμα παρατείνουσιν. 13.12 τὰ γάρ τοι ἐπέκεινα τῶν δεδηλωμένων, Ἰταλία πᾶσα καὶ Σικελία Γαλλία τε καὶ ὅσα κατὰ δυόμενον ἥλιον ἐπὶ Σπανίαν Μαυριτανίαν τε καὶ Ἀφρικήν, οὐδ' ὅλοις ἔτεσιν δυσὶ τοῖς πρώτοις τοῦ διωγμοῦ τὸν πόλεμον ὑπομείναντα, ταχίστης ἠξιώθησαν ἐπισκοπῆς τε θεοῦ καὶ εἰρήνης, τῆς οὐρανίου προνοίας φειδὼ τῆς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἁπλότητος καὶ πίστεως ποιουμένης. 13.13 ὃ γοῦν μηδὲ ἱστόρηται ἐν τοῖς ἀνέκαθεν τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς, τοῦτο νῦν πρῶτον καθ' ἡμᾶς παρὰ πᾶσαν γέγονεν ἐλπίδα· διαιρεῖται μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς διωγμῷ διχῇ τὰ τῆς βασιλείας, εἰρήνης δ' ἀπολαύουσιν οἱ ἐν θατέρῳ μέρει τῷ προδεδηλωμένῳ κατοικοῦντες ἀδελφοί, τῶν ἀνὰ τὴν ἄλλην οἰκουμένην μυρίους ἐπὶ μυρίοις ἀγῶνας ὑπομεινάντων. 13.14 ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὅτε καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐπισκοπὴν εὐμενῆ καὶ ἵλεω ἡ θεία καὶ οὐράνιος χάρις ἐνεδείκνυτο, τότε δῆτα καὶ οἱ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἄρχοντες, αὐτοὶ δὴ ἐκεῖνοι δι' ὧν πάλαι τὰ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐνηργεῖτο πολέμων, παραδοξοτάτῳ γνώμῃ μεταβαλλόμενοι παλινῳδίαν ᾖδον, χρηστοῖς περὶ ἡμῶν προγράμμασιν καὶ ἡμέροις διατάγμασιν τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν πυρκαϊὰν ἀποσβεννύντες· ἀναγραπτέα δὴ καὶ ἡ παλινῳδία.