Image: Representations of Marinus and Astyerius
This is an occasional series of readings from and brief notes
and commentary upon Eusebius of Caesarea’s The
Ecclesiastical History: Book 7, chapters 15-17. Listen here.
Notes and Commentary:
These chapters, though set at the
time of the church’s peace after the end of the Valerian persecution, describe
the martyr-soldier Marinus of Caesarea, as well as the Christian Roman senator
Astyrius.
Chapter 15 relays the
account of Marinus, a man distinguished by birth and rank, who on the verge of
being made a centurion was accused by a rival of being a Christian and thus unfit
to hold this position since he could not offer sacrifices to the emperor. The
judge (Achaeus) gave Marinus three hours to consider his response. In that time
he met with the bishop Theotecnus who dramatically asked him to choose either
his sword or a copy of the Gospels. When he extended his hand without
hesitation to “the divine book”, he was exhorted to hold fast to God and
departed to be “perfected” in death as a martyr and was beheaded.
Chapter 16 describes
how Astyrius, a Christian who was a wealthy Roman senator and friend of the
emperor was present at Marinus’s martyrdom and took the body on his shoulders, wrapped
it in a costly robe and gave him a fitting burial.
Chapter 17 provides
another anecdote about Astyrius which occurred at Caesarea Philippi where the
pagans claimed that at a certain springs during one of their festivals a
sacrifice when offered would disappear from sight. Astyrius prayed that God would
put an end to this deception and the demon who caused it, and, after he did so,
the sacrifice floated on the springs bringing this supposed “miracle” to an
end, never to be repeated at this spot again.
Conclusion:
The account of Marinus’s martyrdom
is a reminder that even in times of relative peace, the Christians were in
danger of malicious charges. The fact that Marinus was a soldier from a noble family
who was nearly placed at the rank of centurion and that Astyrius was a respected
senator shows how adherents from this new religion were rising to positions of
prominence within Roman society but also coming into conflict with the
traditional, pagan religions.
JTR
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