On the Martyrs

On the Martyrs A Memra. I. Of the Martyrs. My brothers, the power that was mingled with the athletes in their contests. Through you I was empowered to speak of the beauty of their victories. The son of his love, Severus, the first of the martyrs of Persia. Give me the word that is fitting to proclaim their praises. O the son of his love, who watered the tree and trampled upon death. Make me drink of your love so that I may speak through you their praises. The slain one who cut a path of sufferings for his powers. Awaken your love for their narratives in a distinct manner. The sinner, the slain one, in whose drunkenness the demons fell. Give me that I may mix the goodness of your slaying with your beginning. Through you, my Lord, I approach to speak about their sufferings. For unless through you, the knowledge of their victories is not known. You are the beauty of all who approached perfection, and you are the crown of all who were adorned in their contests. Through your love the martyrs delivered their sufferings, and through what they saw in you they bore their afflictions. Give me, my Lord, that I may recount the beauty of their nights. From your treasure house that is full of wealth for those who approach it. These are they who bore the weight of your love upon their bodies, and with their blows they raised your image to the cross. These are they who ascended the saw and the rack, and trampled upon the coals in the furnace of your love for your sake. These are they who resisted the sword while being slain, and joyfully gave their limbs to be severed.

These are they who ran to meet death with great zeal, and received the sword as a gift of abundant blessings. These are they who were food for fire and for beasts, and did not tremble nor grow faint when their limbs were being destroyed for your sake. These are they who abandoned the world and its pomp for your sake, and left behind houses and brothers and families that they might approach you. A lover of truth, but of truth that cannot be vanquished; and if he does not die for love, he does not truly love. This is the love, and beyond it there is no other, that for the sake of his love a man rejoices when death draws near. In beloved life, and in honors, and in pleasures, he who loves does not consider his love among the perishable things. Gold in the fire, if it is pure, is beautiful; and death in torments proves the worth of one who is true. If gold does not enter the furnace and become refined in it, the image of the king cannot be stamped upon it. And if a man does not approach suffering unto death, the image of the love of divinity is not stamped in him. Gold in the furnace receives the skill to become an image, and a man in torments raises up in himself the image of divinity. They swallow up gold, the craftsmen work upon it at the anvil, and they make it a crown for the beauty of the head. And thus the martyrs, through the beauty of their torments, found beauty, and behold, they are crowned with the crown of the king while being vanquished.

tortures of fire were skilled craftsmen of suffering; they set fire in torments and arranged a bridal chamber in the kingdom. The body of the martyrs, like gold in the fire, they placed it and made from it a crown of glory for the great King. With stripes they tormented him and with blows they placed beauty in him; through the fire he received a form that cannot be destroyed. They swallowed them like gold and they acquired beauty like ornaments for the adornment of the bride in the bridal chamber. The slain murderer led them to the bridal chamber and brought their blood with them, their Romans. The foundation of the light that fills the ruins, behold I see. Severed necks and bound bodies and empty limbs. Slain heads and the rest of all the Sardians, and the great house of the bridal chamber was filled with them. And in these evils the bride, the pure virgin, rejoiced greatly and loved the glorious visions of their torments. One is stretched, one is swallowed, one is slain; one is torn apart, one is emptied, one is taken. Some are pierced and some are slain by the persecutors; one is spread out and one is wrapped up by the beasts. And some ascend from the fire, their scent like incense; another is spread out while being wrapped up by the wicked. That one was stretched, that one was torn apart, that one was severed; all of them endured every unjust torment.

the great winepress of the crucifixion, mistress of torments, and the vat upon which the wine of pains was pressed and drunk. The tortures of the fire, a new bridal chamber of height, and with him they mounted; a sword met them, unsheathed in the house of his feast. The fire of burning with the saw of thirst for blood, the crash of stones and the roar of lions' teeth. With the great smoke that rises from the burning, the wrath of sinners, which in its waves resembles the great sea. In this form of these torments, the saints passed through and joyfully endured pains without weakness. Love was easy, not to be weakened when afflicted, for everyone bears and endures every kind of torment written. Pains and torments with afflictions and tortures they endured; the martyrs in their love, while being tormented by the wicked. The cup of life, which is in the hand of the spear, the Jews pressed; they gave the martyrs to drink from the wine of their torment's vinegar. They increased and drank from that violence of the crucifixion until, even in the fire, they felt no pain in their limbs. The wine they drank from the cup became for them a bridal chamber, as they walked upon the coals rejoicing. What from the side of the king Messiah they anointed with oil, and the ordinance from him, his high hand, the conqueror of the enemy. The one who offered and cast Adam into the house of idols, he contended to cast the martyrs before the judges.

the spirit of the winepress of the song of the cross led the serpent to her bridal chamber; she cast the cup of denial, the cup of the wine of torments. But the evil king and his bitter command did not prevail, for they were drunk from the teaching of the cross that made them wise. From the luminous teaching of Jesus they were made wise and were instructed in the wine of torments and in perfection. He commanded them and taught them in his gospel that they should be like days and like hours. In perfection they were like days, as they had learned, and when they were being killed they were peaceful and simple among the murderers. If there had been anger in the day, it would not have dwelt with him who lives for his avengers to kill him. And this is a good saying, and also the disciples did not become weary when they were being destroyed by the wicked. The serpent that guards himself from the crosses and lives cautiously every day like the wise was raised up. For he knows in his wine of torments where he is seized, that his head is hidden and he flees from his pursuers. For if the manner of being seized swallows and hides his head, he delivers his whole body to pains and blows. The head of the soul is faith among the dividers, and the martyrs guarded it in the place where it cannot be swallowed. Their truth alone they were careful to guard in the wine of torments of the hours that are full of bitterness.

faith is the head of life; they bore it and gave a limit and a garment to their members. The life of the serpent in its head goes and is crushed; it loses its life, and over that head it conceals its poison. And the life of the soul is hung on faith and is guarded; and if faith is shaken, life perishes. And the guardian of faith from stumbling blocks, as the serpent conceals its head from blows. Thus the martyrs in fear preserved faith, and when they were swallowed by judges, it was not swallowed. In the other life that was prepared, the martyrs perceived, and because of this they gave their bodies to endure sufferings. Through the sufferings they endured and their blows, they shook the earth; the other world has a God greater than this one. They endured sufferings at the hands of the wicked until they believed, and they affirmed that there is something hidden that is perceived in it. The persecutors saw how joyfully they went to meet death, and a great wonder stirred them to praise. And they began to think that if there were no other life, they would not have endured such pain for their lives. In the great thing that is hidden, they are revealed when they are killed, and for that they run to meet the sword with pure hearts. With the good hope that is glorious and hidden, these are perceived, and by deceit they escape all blows and struggles.

What is this Jesus that they die for his sake? And why are they confident in his name when they are killed? Why do they confess him unto death lovingly, and endure torments and do not deny him in their afflictions? They proclaim the crucified and preach the slain, and to what end? And they are confident in him while they worship him before the eyes of many. Why do they worship him? Is he a man who suffers pain, or is he not alive, as they die for his sake? Great power is in the one crucified by the Jews, and his love equals the afflictions of those who believe in him. Either he is God or he is a man, the son of God; power is in him that compels a man to his faith. Through the torments they endured, the martyrs spoke to the persecutors; these are the words of those who saw their own limbs. And because of these words they honored the endurance over their sufferings, they silenced the people for the proclamation. They amazed the beholders with how they endured every torture, and without being shaken they swallowed up the whole world in faith. The martyrs became for the children of the covenant in their afflictions that there is another life that he gives to those who love him. With their blood they wrote the faith of God the All, and by their deaths they became teachers of the truths. Not their words were received by the hearers, nor by the deed of their faith that is so true.

The torments and sufferings that they endured on their bodies are known to all, that the labor of their torments was not in vain. Behold, their martyrdom is depicted in the sufferings of their opponents, and their teaching is written in the stripes on their bodies. And all are eager to receive their martyrdom, for with their blood they sealed and received their rewards. They died for the hope that the martyrs saw, that there is a promise. Blessed is the Messiah who crowned his martyrs with their own garments. The end: Glory to you, Lord of all, who is not ashamed and who glories in you.