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they were heirs of that Gehenna. For it is not, it is not possible for one holding to an upright life with faith ever to be shipwrecked in the faith, having become bereft of the assistance from God. When indeed, having seized Lazaros the patriarch, first they began with many flatteries and tried to relax his resolve and to lead him away from the faith in Christ, thinking that if they should win him over, all Christians would immediately be brought to a denial of Christ, following their own champion of the faith, and they would not be forced to kill them. For they rather wished to have them living after turning them from the faith, than to kill them, from which 3.101 there is no benefit. But when no hope appeared to them from flattering him, for he was rather ready to endure everything for the sake of faith in Christ, and he called for the hands of executioners, and seemed rather to long for scrapings and racks, and said, "Nothing in existence will be able to turn me from the faith in Christ," the barbarians despaired of his conversion, and they put aside flattery as something useless, and proceeded to their familiar and beloved cruelty, and Seikhoun immediately condemned the patriarch to death, but the Sultan, as it was said, begged him not to kill him, but to punish him for his disobedience in some other way. For that one was not so harsh to the Christians, but rather was said to be vexed when they were killed, as was Seikhoun, the dwelling place more wicked than the wicked one, the son of perdition, who, obeying his man-slaying father completely, took no satiety from Christians being slain, but was rather vexed that he could not quickly drive the name of Christ from the earth. The vote to kill him was therefore prevented; but Seikhoun ordered five hundred lashes to be inflicted with ox-hide whips on his bare flesh. For he thought he would not hold out against such a number, but that before these came to an end, life would leave him, insofar as he was considering human strength. And when the executioners, taking turns, were torturing him and some grew weary from the number of blows, but the athlete kept his mind 3.102 on Christ whom he longed for and called for help from there, neither doing nor saying anything ignoble in response to the blows, the tyrant, being even more inflamed by anger, and as if condemning his own softness and pettiness, ordered as many more to be inflicted. And with the executioners carrying out what was ordered quicker than speech, the entire ground underneath was reddened with blood, and pieces of flesh, torn away, were falling down, and sinews were left behind and bones bare of flesh. But the patriarch, having given up in the face of such an onslaught of terrors, lay barely breathing, and caused astonishment to the barbarians, that he had endured so many tortures. Then they asked again, if, yielding to the Sultan's commands, he would not wish to abandon the faith in Christ and share in their religion; but as he refused with boldness, and said, "Nothing will be able to turn me from the faith in Christ," they carried and threw him to a certain prison, which was reserved for those condemned to death, as one who, if not now from the blows, would later undergo slaughter by the sword. But the fellow prisoners, for there were not a few from among the barbarians who had been condemned to die for certain other reasons, feeling a certain compassion and pitying his human nature, took no ordinary care of him; and being experienced in the healing of such sufferings, they restored him over time and freed him from the wounds 3.103 from the blows. But he was still under the death sentence. But the archbishop of the Jacobite heretics, although previously, because they differed in doctrine, he was hostile towards him and would have gladly seen him destroyed, when he later saw him unexpectedly saved, thinking that what had happened was not of human power, but of divine, from that time he attended to him as an athlete, and offered him all honor and care, and eagerly made provision for his necessities as far as

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αὐτῆς ἐκείνῳ γεέννης ἦσαν κληρονόμοι. οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστι τὸν ὀρθοῦ βίου μετὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐχόμενον ναυαγῆσαί ποτε περὶ τὴν πίστιν, τῆς παρὰ θεοῦ ἐπικουρίας ἔρημον γενόμενον. ὅτε δὴ καὶ Λάζαρον τὸν πατριάρχην συλλαβόντες, πρῶτα μὲν πολλαῖς ὑπήρχοντο θωπείαις καὶ παραλύειν τὸν τόνον ἐπειρῶντο καὶ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν ἀπάγειν πίστεως, νομίζοντες, ἂν τοῦτον ἕλωσι, πάντας ὑπάξεσθαι Χριστιανοὺς πρὸς ἄρνησιν αὐτίκα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τῷ σφετέρῳ προστάτῃ τῆς πίστεως ἑπομένους, καὶ μὴ ἀναγκασθήσεσθαι ἀποκτιννύναι. μᾶλλον γὰρ ἠβούλοντο μεταστήσαντες τῆς πίστεως ζῶντας ἔχειν, ἢ ἀναιρεῖν, ἐξ ὧνπερ 3.101 οὐδεμία ὄνησις. ὡς δὲ οὐδεμία τις αὐτοῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἐκεῖνον κολακεύειν ὑπεφαίνετο ἐλπὶς, πάντα γὰρ ἐκεῖνος μᾶλλον ἕτοιμος ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ὑπομένειν ἦν, καὶ δημίων ἐξεκαλεῖτο χεῖρας, καὶ ξεσμοὺς καὶ στρεβλωτήρια ἐδόκει μᾶλλον ποθεῖν, καὶ «οὐδὲν τῶν ὄντων» ἔλεγε «τῆς εἰς Χριστόν με δυνήσεται πίστεως ἀποστῆσαι,» ἀπεγίνωσκον μὲν οἱ βάρβαροι τὴν μετάθεσιν, καὶ τὸ κολακεύειν ὥσπερ τι τῶν ἀχρήστων ἀπετίθεντο, ἐχώρουν δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν σύντροφον ὠμότητα καὶ φίλην, καὶ Σειχοῦν μὲν θάνατον εὐθὺς κατεψηφίζετο τοῦ πατριάρχου, Σουλτὰν δὲ, ὡς ἐλέγετο, ἐδεῖτο μὴ ἀποκτιννύναι, ἀλλὰ τρόπον ἕτερόν τινα τῆς ἀπειθείας ἕνεκα κολάζειν. οὐ γὰρ τοσοῦτον ἦν βαρὺς Χριστιανοῖς ἐκεῖνος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐλέγετο καὶ ἄχθεσθαι ἀναιρουμένων, ὅσον Σειχοῦν, τὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ πονηρότερον οἰκητήριον, ὁ τῆς ἀπωλείας υἱὸς, ὃς τῷ ἀνθρωποκτόνῳ πατρὶ πειθόμενος κατάκρας, κόρον οὐδένα κτεινομένων ἐλάμβανε Χριστιανῶν, ἀλλ' ἤχθετο μᾶλλον, ὅτι μὴ ταχέως τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὄνομα τῆς γῆς ἠδύνατο ἐξελαύνειν. ἡ μὲν οὖν τοῦ ἀποκτείνειν ψῆφος ἐκωλύετο· πληγὰς δὲ ἐκέλευε Σειχοῦν ἐπὶ γυμνῶν τῶν σαρκῶν βουνεύροις ἐντείνειν πεντακοσίας. ᾤετο γὰρ οὐκ ἀντισχήσειν πρὸς τοσοῦτον πλῆθος, ἀλλὰ πρὶν εἰς τέλος ταύτας ἥκειν, ἀπολείψειν αὐτὸν τὸ ζῇν, ὅσον εἰς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην δύναμιν ἀποσκοπῶν. ἐπεὶ δὲ οἱ δήμιοι διαλαβόντες ᾔκιζον καὶ οἱ μὲν πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος ἔκαμνον τῶν πληγῶν, ὁ ἀθλητὴς δὲ τὸν νοῦν 3.102 πρὸς ὃν ἐπόθει Χριστὸν εἶχε καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν βοήθειαν ἐξεκαλεῖτο, οὐδὲν ἀγεννὲς οὔτε πράττων, οὔτε φθεγγόμενος πρὸς τὰς πληγὰς, ὁ τύραννος ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐξαπτόμενος ὑπὸ θυμοῦ, καὶ ὥσπερ ἑαυτοῦ μαλακίαν καὶ μικρολογίαν καταγνοὺς, καὶ ἑτέρας τοσαύτας ἐκέλευεν ἐντείνειν. θᾶττον δὲ ἢ λόγος τὰ κεκελευσμένα πραττόντων τῶν δημίων, αἵμασι μὲν τὸ ὑποκείμενον ἅπαν ἔδαφος ἐφοινίσσετο, σάρκες δὲ κατέῤῥεον ἀποσπώμεναι καὶ νεῦρα κατελείπετο καὶ ὀστέα γυμνὰ σαρκῶν. ὁ πατριάρχης δὲ πρὸς τοσαύτην ἀπειπὼν τῶν δεινῶν ἐπιφορὰν, ἔκειτο μικρὸν ἐμπνέων, καὶ τοῖς βαρβάροις ἔκπληξιν ἐνεποίει, ὅτι πρὸς τοσαύτας διαρκέσειεν αἰκίας. ἔπειτα ἠρώτων αὖθις, εἰ μὴ τοῖς Σουλτὰν προστάγμασιν εἴκων, τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ἀποστῆναι βούλοιτο καὶ συμμετέχειν αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὴν θρησκείαν· ὡς δ' ἐκεῖνος μετὰ παῤῥησίας ἀπηγόρευε, καὶ «οὐδέν με τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν» ἔφασκε «πίστεως δυνήσεται ἀποστῆσαι,» ἐπί τι δεσμωτήριον, ὃ τοῖς ἐπὶ θάνατον ἐξῄρητο κατεγνωσμένοις, φέροντες ῥιπτοῦσιν, ὡς, εἰ μὴ νῦν ἐκ τῶν πληγῶν, ἀλλ' ὕστερον τὴν διὰ ξίφους σφαγὴν ὑποστησόμενον. οἱ συνδεσμῶται δὲ, ἦσαν γὰρ οὐκ ὀλίγοι ἐκ βαρβάρων ἐφ' ἑτέραις δή τισιν αἰτίαις κατεψηφισμένοι ἀποθνήσκειν, φιλάνθρωπόν τι παθόντες καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν κατοικτείραντες, πρόνοιάν τε ἐποιήσαντο αὐτοῦ οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν· καὶ πρὸς θεραπείας τοιούτων παθημάτων ἐμπείρως ἔχοντες, ἀνεκτήσαντό τε διὰ χρόνου καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῶν πληγῶν 3.103 ἀπήλλαξαν τραυμάτων. ἦν δὲ ἔτι ὑπὸ τὴν θανατηφόρον δίκην. ὁ δὲ τῶν Ἰακώβου αἱρεσιωτῶν ἀρχιερεὺς, καίτοι πρότερον διὰ τὸ περὶ τὴν δόξαν διαφέρεσθαι ἀπεχθῶς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἔχων καὶ ἡδέως ἂν ἰδὼν διεφθαρμένον, ὡς παρὰ δόξαν εἶδεν ὕστερον διασωθέντα, οὐ δυνάμεως ἀνθρωπίνης, θείας δὲ εἶναι τὰ γεγενημένα οἰηθεὶς, ὡς ἀθλητῇ τε προσεῖχεν ἐξ ἐκείνου, καὶ πᾶσαν προσῆγε τιμὴν καὶ θεραπείαν, καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων τὴν χορηγίαν ἐποιεῖτο φιλοτίμως καθ' ὅσον