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of those seeking "we were able." 125 Thus, when he had escaped their murderous hands, George, another wolf, was entrusted with authority over those sheep, but he treated the sheep more cruelly than any wolf or bear or leopard. For he forced those who had vowed virginity for life not only to deny communion with Athanasius but also to anathematize the faith of the fathers. And he had as a co-worker in his cruelty a certain Sebastianus, a commander of the military rolls, who, having lit a fire in the middle of the city and having placed the naked virgins beside it, ordered them to deny the faith. And they, set forth as a terrible and pitiable spectacle for believers and unbelievers alike, both considered the utmost dishonor the greatest honor and gladly endured the scourgings for the faith. And their own shepherd will relate these things more clearly. "Then, having arrived during Lent, George, the one sent by them from "Cappadocia, increased the evils which he had learned from them. For after "the week of Easter, virgins were thrown into prison, "bishops were led away bound by soldiers, the houses of orphans and widows "were plundered, and plunderings and assaults against houses occurred "and Christians were carried off by night, houses were sealed up "and brothers of clerics were endangered on behalf of their brothers. And these things "were terrible, but the deeds dared after these were more terrible. For in the week "after the holy Pentecost, the people, having fasted, went out to the 126 "cemetery to pray, because all were turning away from communion with "George. But that all-wicked man, having learned this, himself "incited the general Sebastianus, who was a Manichean. And "so on the Lord's day itself, he rushed against the people with a multitude "of soldiers carrying weapons and naked swords and bows and arrows. "And finding a few praying (for most had already departed on account of "the hour), he did such things as was fitting for one who had heard from them "to do. For having lit a fire and having placed "virgins by the fire, he forced them to say that they were of the Arian faith. "And when he saw that he was conquering them, having stripped them, he then so beat "them in their faces, that after a time they could scarcely be recognized. "And having seized forty men, he beat them in a new way. "For rods from the palm trees cut straight which still had "their thorns on them, he so flayed their backs that some had to "be operated on many times because of the thorns embedded in them, "while others, unable to bear it, even died. Therefore, all the "survivors and the virgins they exiled together to the great "Oasis; and the bodies of the dead they did not allow to be given back to their own "at first, but hid them as they wished, 127 "casting them out unburied, in order that they might seem to conceal such great "cruelty. But the madmen, deluded in their minds, do "this; for from the relatives of the deceased, rejoicing on account of "the confession, but lamenting on account of the bodies, the accusation of their "cruelty resounded the more greatly against them. For immediately from Egypt "and the Libyas they exiled the bishops Ammonius, Muius, Gaius, "Philo, Hermes, Plenius, Psenosiris, Nilammon, Agathus, Anagamphus, "Marcus, another Ammonius, another Marcus, Dracontius, Adelphius, "Athenodorus, and the presbyters Hierax and Dioscorus. And so "bitterly they drove them out that some of them on the roads, and others "in exile itself, died. And they banished more than "thirty bishops. For it was their aim, like Ahab, if possible, "to root out the truth." And writing words of consolation to those virgins who endured those most grievous things, he also included these: "For this reason, let none of you be sorrowful, even if the "impious begrudge you burial and prevent your funerals. For even 128 "to this point has the ruin of the Arians reached; and they "close the gates, and sit around the tombs like demons, "so that none of the

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ζητούντων "ἠδυνήθημεν." 125 Οὕτω τούτου τὰς μιαιφόνους ἐκείνων διαφυγόντος χεῖρας, Γεώρ γιος μὲν λύκος ἕτερος τῶν προβάτων ἐκείνων ἐπιστεύθη τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ὠμότερον δὲ λύκου παντὸς καὶ ἄρκτου καὶ παρδάλεως τοῖς προβάτοις ἐχρῆτο. τὰς μὲν γὰρ διὰ βίου τὴν παρθενίαν ὑπεσχημένας οὐ τὴν Ἀθανασίου μόνον ἀρνεῖσθαι κοινωνίαν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν πατέρων ἀνα θεματίζειν τὴν πίστιν ἠνάγκαζε. σύνεργον δὲ τῆς ὠμότητος εἶχε Σεβαστιανόν τινα τῶν στρατιωτικῶν καταλόγων ἡγούμενον, ὃς ἐν μέσῃ τῇ πόλει πυρὰν ἀνάψας καὶ ταύτῃ τὰς παρθένους γυμνὰς παρα στήσας ἀρνεῖσθαι τὴν πίστιν ἐκέλευεν. αἱ δὲ θέαμα δεινὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἐλεεινὸν πιστοῖς ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀπίστοις προκείμεναι, καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀτιμίαν τιμὴν μεγίστην ἐνόμιζον καὶ τὰς ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως μάστιγας ἀσμένως ὑπέμενον. καὶ ταῦτα δὲ σαφέστερον ὁ τούτων ποιμὴν διηγήσεται. "Εἶτα ἐλθὼν τῇ Τεσσαρακοστῇ ὁ παρ' αὐτῶν ἀποσταλεὶς ἐκ "Καππαδοκίας Γεώργιος ηὔξησεν ἃ παρ' αὐτῶν μεμάθηκε κακά. μετὰ "γὰρ τὰ ἕβδομα τοῦ Πάσχα παρθένοι εἰς δεσμωτήριον ἐβάλλοντο, "ἐπίσκοποι ἤγοντο ὑπὸ στρατιωτῶν δεδεμένοι, ὀρφανῶν καὶ χηρῶν "ἡρπάζοντο αἱ οἰκίαι, καὶ ἁρπαγαὶ καὶ ἔφοδοι κατὰ τῶν οἰκιῶν ἐγί "νοντο καὶ νυκτὸς Χριστιανοὶ κατεφέροντο, ἐπεσφραγίσθησαν οἰκίαι "καὶ ἀδελφοὶ κληρικῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐκινδύνευον. καὶ δεινὰ "μὲν ταῦτα, δεινότερα δὲ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα τολμήματα. τῇ γὰρ ἑβδομάδι "μετὰ τὴν ἁγίαν Πεντηκοστὴν ὁ λαὸς νηστεύσας ἐξῆλθε περὶ τὸ 126 "κοιμητήριον εὔξασθαι, διὰ τὸ πάντας ἀποστρέφεσθαι τὴν πρὸς "Γεώργιον κοινωνίαν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μαθὼν ὁ παμπόνηρος αὐτὸς "παροξύνει τὸν στρατηλάτην Σεβαστιανόν, Μανιχαῖον ὄντα. καὶ "λοιπὸν αὐτὸς μετὰ πλήθους στρατιωτῶν ὅπλα καὶ ξίφη γυμνὰ καὶ "τόξα καὶ βέλη φερόντων ὥρμησεν ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ κυριακῇ κατὰ τῶν "λαῶν. καὶ ὀλίγους εὑρὼν εὐχομένους (οἱ γὰρ πλεῖστοι λοιπὸν διὰ "τὴν ὥραν ἀναχωρήσαντες ἦσαν), τοιαῦτα εἰργάσατο οἷα παρ' αὐτῶν "ἔπρεπεν ἀκούσαντα πρᾶξαι. πυρκαϊὰν γὰρ ἀνάψας καὶ στήσας παρ "θένους παρὰ τὸ πῦρ, ἠνάγκαζε λέγειν ἑαυτὰς τῆς Ἀρείου πίστεως "εἶναι. ὡς δὲ νικώσας αὐτὰς ἔβλεπε, γυμνώσας λοιπὸν οὕτως κατέ "κοψεν εἰς τὰ πρόσωπα, ὡς μετὰ χρόνον αὐτὰς μόλις ἐπιγνωσθῆναι. "ἄνδρας δὲ κρατήσας τεσσαράκοντα καινοτέρῳ τρόπῳ κατέκοψεν. "ῥάβδους γὰρ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν φοινίκων <εὐθὺς τεμὼν> ἐν αὐταῖς ἐχούσας "ἔτι τοὺς σκόλοπας, τὰ νῶτα τούτων οὕτως ἐξέδειρεν ὡς τινὰς μὲν "πολλάκις χειρουργηθῆναι διὰ τοὺς ἀποπαγέντας ἐν αὐτοῖς σκόλοπας, "τινὰς δὲ καὶ μὴ φέροντας ἀποθανεῖν. πάντας μὲν οὖν τοὺς περι "λειφθέντας ἀθρόως καὶ τὰς παρθένους ἐξώρισαν εἰς τὴν μεγάλην "Ὄασιν· τὰ δὲ σώματα τῶν τετελευτηκότων οὐδὲ τοῖς ἰδίοις κατὰ "τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀποδοθῆναι πεποιήκασιν, ἀλλ' ἔκρυψαν ὡς ἠθέλησαν, 127 "ἄταφα βαλόντες, ὑπὲρ τοῦ δοκεῖν αὐτοὺς λανθάνειν τὴν τοσαύτην "ὠμότητα. πράττουσι δὲ τοῦτο πεπλανημένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ οἱ παρά "φρονες· τῶν γὰρ οἰκείων τῶν τετελευτηκότων, χαιρόντων μὲν διὰ "τὴν ὁμολογίαν, θρηνούντων δὲ διὰ τὰ σώματα, μείζων ἐξηχεῖτο κατ' "αὐτῶν ὁ τῆς ὠμότητος ἔλεγχος. καὶ γὰρ εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου "καὶ τῶν Λιβυῶν ἐξώρισαν μὲν ἐπισκόπους Ἀμμώνιον, Μούϊον, Γάϊον, "Φίλωνα, Ἑρμῆν, Πλήνιον, Ψενόσιριν, Νειλάμμωνα, Ἄγαθον, Ἀνάγαμ"φον, Μάρκον, Ἀμμώνιον ἕτερον, Μάρκον ἕτερον, ∆ρακόντιον, Ἀδέλφιον, "Ἀθηνόδωρον, καὶ πρεσβυτέρους Ἱέρακα καὶ ∆ιόσκορον. καὶ οὕτω "πικρῶς ἤλασαν αὐτοὺς ὡς τινὰς μὲν αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς, τινὰς δὲ "ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἐξορισμῷ ἀποθανεῖν. ἐφυγάδευσαν δὲ ἐπισκόπους πλείους "ἢ τριάκοντα. σπουδὴ γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὸν Ἀχαάβ, εἰ δυνατόν, "ἐξᾶραι τὴν ἀλήθειαν." Καὶ παραμυθητικοὺς δὲ λόγους ταῖς παρθένοις ἐκείναις αἳ τὰ παγχάλεπα ἐκεῖνα ὑπέμειναν γράφων, καὶ ταῦτα ἐντέθεικε· "∆ιὰ τοῦτο μηδὲ γινέσθω τις ὑμῶν περίλυπος, εἰ καὶ θαπτο "μέναις ὑμῖν φθονοῦσιν οἱ δυσσεβεῖς καὶ κωλύουσι τὰς ἐκφοράς. καὶ 128 "μέχρι γὰρ τούτων ἡ καταστροφὴ τῶν Ἀρειανῶν ἔφθασε· καὶ τὰς "μὲν πύλας κλείουσι, περὶ δὲ τὰ μνήματα ὡς δαίμονες καθέζονται, "ἵνα μή τις τῶν