The Passion of the Holy Martyr Polychronicus

The wicked Roman emperor Decius [Decius <unk> emperor 249-251], after torturing many Christians, went with his entire army to Persia; defeating the Persian army and taking the country captive, he took over the provinces of Babylon, Vactrina, Irca, Assyria; finding many Christians in these lands, the king began to persecute and torture them in every way.

And Polychronicus, the bishop of Babylon, and with him three presbyters, Parmenis, and Elimas, and Chrysoteles, and two deacons, Luke, and Mucus; whom Decius seized, and commanded to bring them forth at once to offer sacrifices to the idol.

Decius ordered the bishop and the presbyters and deacons to be imprisoned, and he himself began to build a temple in Babylon to his abominable god Saturn, to whom he also made a gilded idol.

When the abominable temple of Saturn was finished in Babylon, the wicked Decius summoned bishop Polychronicus with presbyters and deacons to his court and said: "Are you that blasphemer who reveres neither gods nor obeys the king's commandments?" The holy bishop, without answering a word, stood silent. Then the king turned to the presbyters and deacons: "Your chief is dumb!

<unk> Our father is not dumb, but he does not want to defile his pure and holy lips, fulfilling the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said: "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, and do not throw your pearls before the pigs, for fear they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces". (Matthew 7:6) Is it right to defile our clean lips with dung?

When they had cut off the tongue of St. Parmenides, he said to St. Polychronicus: "Holy Father, pray for me, for I see the King upon you, the Holy Spirit, who closes your mouths, and plunges a copper hundred into mine".

So God marvels in his saints: to him who has a tongue he commands to be silent, and to him whose tongue is cut off he gives the gift of speech, to show his almighty power. And Decius said to the bishop, Polychronicus, offer a sacrifice to the gods, and be my friend, and I will entrust the new temple of Saturn to you. The bishop answered him nothing.

The next night, two noble men from the Persian princes, named Avdon and Sennis, secret Christians, secretly took the body of the holy bishop Polychronius and buried it near the city wall.

And when they were come to the city of Cordoba, Decius commanded the prisoners to be brought before the judgment-seat, and said unto them, Ye madmen, and ye that desire to perish, behold, I bid you sacrifice unto the immortal gods.

"You are a cursed man, you who tell us not to worship man-made idols! You must worship the Lord Jesus Christ or else you will perish with your gods".

May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is forever and ever, give you comfort and the Holy Spirit. And they said, "Amen! " The people were furious.

But if our Lord Jesus Christ has given the tongue of the mute, and to me the tongue of the sinner, and you have the tongue, and you do not give glory to the true God,

When the children heard this, they explained it to him with their magic, and ordered to take the martyrs and cut off their heads, and to throw their bodies outside the city on the road, and to put guards so that no one would take them and give them to the burial.

At the same time King Decius sent to all Persia to search for Christians and to torture them; and some of his servants said to him, O king, those prisoners whom thou hast pardoned, and to whom thou hast given life and liberty, are Christians; they steal the bodies of Christians, and bury them in their village, and do not worship the gods, nor do they even do thy commandments.

And the king said, Who are these wicked men? And they called for Abdon and Sennacherib. And the king said, Are ye so mad, that ye know not that it is as a transgression against the gods that ye are conquered and delivered into the power of the Romans? And they said, Therefore Christ hath given us victory over the devil, because we have despised your gods.

Do you not know that your souls are in the hands of our God and that we worship Him who came down from heaven to save us?

On the same day two other noble men, Olympian and Maximus, were accused before the king of being Christians, and the king, immediately seizing them, ordered them to be beaten with rods without question, saying: <unk> They are not worthy to be heard, since they do not revere gods, and deserve death, considering a dead man to be their god. Saint Maximus objected to this: <unk> Well you said "the dead", but why did you not say "the risen one" as well?

"Tell us your treasures", said Deceus. "Our treasures, gold, silver, and all riches are our Lord Jesus Christ, for whose sake we spare our health and despise all earthly riches".

And they were not buried for five days, and they were not touched; and on the sixth day the Christians took the bodies of the dead, and buried them with honour.

Then the wicked Decian went to Rome, and with him were brought in chains the holy martyrs of Persia, Avdon and Sennis, whom Decian had taken with him for his glory, to make a spectacle to the Romans.

For many days the pope was in prison, and secret Christians came to him, bringing their children, and also their relatives and acquaintances who had turned to Christ from idolatry; they were baptized by the pope in prison.

Then, after this, Decius summoned the whole Roman Senate together with the commander Valerian and presented to them the princes brought from Persia, bound in chains, but dressed as princes; although they were exhausted by various torments on the way, but for the glory of Decius they were adorned with gold, silver and expensive ornaments with precious stones. Pointing at them, Decius said: <unk> Look at the enemies whom the gods and goddesses have delivered into our hands. These are the enemies of the Roman kingdom.

And when the whole council saw them, they were astonished at their noble appearance, and were filled with pity for them, and they had compassion on them. And the Lord gave such grace to his servants, that those who looked on them had mercy rather than anger.

Sacrifice to the gods, and you will be free, and you will have all your possessions, and you will be rich in other riches, and you will receive much praise from us. " The saints answered, "We only sacrifice ourselves to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the king commanded to prepare a spectacle for the morning, and to feed the beasts the princes of Persia, Abdon and Sennas. And it came to pass in the morning, when all was prepared for the spectacle, that king Decius did not come, but sent in his stead Valerian the captain. And he came and brought forth the martyrs, and began to persuade them to worship the idol, saying,

"Stop being so arrogant as to offer incense on the altar of the gods, or else you will die from the teeth of the beasts. "As we have said before, we offer sacrifices of praise and incense to our Lord Jesus Christ alone, and we never worship idols made by hands.

And it came to pass, when they came near the idol, that they spat upon it, and Valerian was very angry, and commanded the holy martyrs to be beaten with rods of tin, and to be led naked into a place prepared for them, where they should be eaten by beasts in the sight of the people that looked on from the high steps.

And the holy men became naked in the flesh, but clothed in the spirit of Christ, and they clothed themselves with the sign of the cross. And two lions were first let out upon them, and then four bears, but the beasts hurt them not, and lay at their feet as guards. Then said Valerian, This is plain Christian magic. And he commanded the beasts to be taken away, and the armed men to go in and kill the martyrs.

The saints were stabbed with swords; their bodies were dragged out and thrown before the idol of the Sun, as the martyr had ordered, to frighten the Christians; they lay there for three days.

The Holy Pope Sixtus was martyred with the clergy after them; his suffering together with Archdeacon Laurentius is commemorated on the tenth day of August. The honourable remains of the two holy martyrs Avdon and Sennis were in the earth before the reign of Constantine the Great; in the days of his reign, by divine revelation, they were found by believers and transferred to the Pontian tomb in honor and glory of Christ our God the Father and the Holy Spirit glorified forever.

Amen [In the Roman Martyrology the memory of the holy martyrs is indicated on different days; St. Demetrius of Rostov united them all in one company, as victims of the same Decian and as coming from the same countries. The relics of Avdon and Sennis from the IX century are in the church of St. Mark in Rome; here (in Rome) they were from the very death of the saints.]