E02791: The Greek Martyrdom of *Sergios and *Bakchos (soldiers and martyrs of Rusafa and Barbalissos, S00023, S00079), of the mid- to late 5th c., recounts the martyrdom of two soldiers in Euphratensis (Syria/Mesopotamia), mentioning their cave shrines in Barbalissos and Rusafa/Resapha, the building of the church of Sergios, and his feast on 7 October. The saint prevents the theft of his relics, and healing miracles and the taming of animals occur at Sergios’ shrine. Probably written in Euphratensis.

Martyrdom of Sergios and Bakchos (BHG 1624)

Summary

1-3. Under the emperor Maximian, paganism prevails in the world. Sergios and Bakchos excel as soldiers of the schola gentilium at the imperial palace. Sergios is a primicerius and, as a personal friend of Maximian, he intercedes for the appointment of his friend Antiochos as dux of the province of Augusta Euphratensis. Bakchos is a secundocerius and the two of them are very close friends, good soldiers trained in the Scriptures and the martial arts. At the instigation of an envious demon, they are betrayed to the emperor as Christians.

4-6. In order to find out if the accusation is true, Maximian goes to the temple of Zeus to offer a sacrifice, followed by his troops. Sergios and Bakchos do not enter, but stay outside the shrine and pray. Maximian summons them into the temple and demands that they offer sacrifice, but they refuse to.

7-10. Maximian orders that the martyrs be stripped of their military insignia (chlamys, belt, and the torques known as maniakia), dressed like women and taken fettered through the city to the palace. While being carried through the marketplace, the saints thank God for their martyrdom and for the fact that he has dressed them like brides. At the palace, Maximian reprimands them for believing in Christ, the illegitimate son of a carpenter, instead of the gods who were born of legitimate marriages. The saints reply that Christ is the true god who made the world and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. Maximian decides to send them to the dux Antiochos in order to be tortured.

11-12. Maximian writes to Antiochos instructing that Sergios and Bakchos be tortured and killed, unless they apostatise, in which case, they should be restored to their military offices. The guards take the martyrs twelve miles outside the city, and they spend the night at an inn, where the saints have a vision of an angel encouraging them to endure till their victory. The saints get up early in the morning and continue their journey joyfully singing. They are followed by their servants.

13-15. Constantly changing guards along the way, the saints are taken to the province of Augusta Euphratensis, and reach the fort of Barbalissos on the limes (frontier zone) of the Saracens. There, the guards meet Antiochos and hand him the saints and the emperor’s letter. Antiochos has Sergios and Bakchos imprisoned. The saints spend the evening singing psalms and at night they have a vision of an angel encouraging them.

16-17. Next morning, they are presented to Antiochos who invites them to comply with the emperor’s orders. He acknowledges his gratitude to Sergios for his earlier benefaction. The martyrs refuse to sacrifice and invite Antiochos to treat them as he has been ordered to.

18. Antiochos reproaches them for their impure religion, and they return the accusation. Sergios is taken to prison, while Bakchos is heavily flogged and beaten, till he is covered in blood and his belly is torn apart. Bakchos declares that, although he was physically destroyed, he was spiritually renewed in eternal life.

19. The voice of Christ is heard from heaven, welcoming Bakchos, who dies, after a long beating. Antiochos orders that his body should not be buried, but thrown outside the fortress. Vultures fly over frightening away beasts that come to devour the body. In the evening, local Christians collect the body and bury it in a cave. The wild beasts join in the funeral.

The passage reads as follows:

19. (……) Τοῦ δὲ λειψάνου ῥιφέντος μήκοθεν τοῦ κάστρου, συναχθὲν πλῆθος θηρίων περιεκύκλωσαν αὐτό. Τὰ δὲ ὄρνεα ἄνωθεν ἱπτάμενα οὐκ εἴων τὰ αἱμοβόρα θηρία ἅπτεσθαι αὐτοῦ. Καὶ παρέμειναν φυλάττοντα αὐτὸ ἄχρις ἑσπέρας βαθείας. Ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης κατελθόντες τινὲς τῶν ἐκεῖσε οἰκούντων ἀδελφῶν ἐν τοῖς σπηλαίοις ἐπῆραν τὸ λείψανον τοῦ ἁγίου προπεμπόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν θηρίων ὥσπερ ὑπό τινων λογικῶν ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸ ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν σπηλαίων αύτῶν (…).

19. (……) ‘As the body (leipsanon) [of Bakchos] was thrown far from the fortress [of Barbalissos], a multitude of beasts surrounded it. Vultures, however, flying over it, did not let the blood-thirsty beasts touch it. And they continued to guard it till late in the afternoon. And when evening fell, some of the brethren living in the local caves came down and collected the body of the saint, while beasts accompanied it walking before them like reasonable humans. And they buried it in one of their caves (…).’

20-22. Sergios is deeply distressed by the death of his friend. At night, Bakchos appears to Sergios, with his face shining like an angel and wearing his military habit. He encourages him and they pray and sing psalms together. Sergios recounts the vision to his companions. The dux announces that he is going to the fort of Sura and orders that Sergios be taken there too. Sergios insists on refusing to offer sacrifice. At Sura, Antiochos attempts to convince Sergios to sacrifice, which he refuses to.

23. Antiochos orders that Sergios be made to run in front of the carriage as far as the fort of Tetrapyrgia, 9 miles away from Sura, wearing boots with large nails piercing his feet. While running, Sergios sings psalms. At Tetrapyrgia Antiochos expresses his surprise at Sergios’ endurance during the torture. Sergios replies that the tortures of martyrdom are sweet. Antiochos has a meal, while Sergios is kept guarded.

24-25. Sergios sings psalms and, around midnight, an angel appears and heals his feet. Next day, Antiochos sees him walking normally and suspects that he is a magician. Sergios insists on his refusal to sacrifice and denounces the pagan religion as magic. Antiochos sits on his carriage and orders that Sergios be taken to the fort of Rosaphon (Rusafa), wearing the same boots with nails.

26-28. At Rosaphon, Sergios again refuses to apostatise and Antiochos condemns him to death by the sword. The martyr is taken to the site of executions, followed by a great crowd that bewails his youth and beauty. The beasts of the area appear and, without harming anyone, they offer their speechless lamentation for the martyr’s death. Sergios offers up his last prayers, requesting from God the conversion of the people to Christianity, and commends his spirit to God. He is decapitated and Christ’s voice is heard welcoming the martyr into heaven. A huge chasm opens on the site which received the martyr’s blood and can still be seen today.

29. Some of the people attending bury the body of Sergios on the same site. A long time later, people from Sura attempt to steal it, but the martyr intervenes to prevent them: a great flame blazes over the site, illuminating the dark night and notifying the soldiers of Rosaphon, who chase off the marauders. The latter request to be allowed to stay for a few days and beautify the saint’s tomb by building a monument and shelter with stones and mud.

30. As the Christian faith advances, a group of fifteen bishops come to Rosaphon and build a grand shrine (martyrion) within the fort, where they transfer the saint’s relics on the date of his martyrdom, 7 October. Several miracles occur wherever there are relics of Sergios, but especially at his original resting place. People get healed of illnesses and demons. Every year on Sergios’ feast, the beasts of the desert become tame and gather around his shrine, without harming the people.

The last three paragraphs of the text read as follows:

28. (...) Ὁ δὲ τόπος ὁ δεξάμενος τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος σχισθεὶς ἀπετέλεσεν χάος μέγα, τοῦ θεοῦ οὕτως οἰκονομήσαντος ὥστε τοὺς δίκην χοίρων τῷ ἑλληνισμῷ ἐγκυλινδουμένους βορβόρῳ, φόβῳ τοῦ ὁρωμένου χάους, μὴ τολμᾶν προσεγγίζειν καὶ καταπατεῖν σὺν τῷ τόπῳ τὸ αἷμα τοῦ μάρτυρος. Καὶ τότε μὲν ταύτης τῆς αἰτίας ἔνεκεν γέγονεν τὸ παμμέγεθες ἐκεῖνο χάος, μέχρι δὲ τοῦ παρόντος ἔμεινεν ὁ τόπος οὗτος φέρων τῆς παλαιότητος τὰ γνωρίσματα προστάγματι θεοῦ, ὥστε τοῖς ἀπιστοῦσιν ὄψει παριστάμενον τὸ θαῦμα πάγειον ἑαυτοῖς οἰκοδομῆσαι τὸν τῆς πίστεως θεμέλιον.

29. Τινὲς δὲ τῶν συνελθόντων εἰς τὴν θέαν τής τελειώσεως τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν τῆς φύσεως ἀφορῶντες, συστείλαντες τὸ λείψανον καὶ ἐνταφιάσαντες καλῶς ἔθαψαν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τόπῳ ἔνθαν ἦν τελειωθεὶς ὁ ἅγιος. Μετὰ δὲ χρόνον πολὺν ζήλῳ τῆς περὶ τὸν Χριστὸν εὐσεβείας φερόμενοι εὐλαβεῖς τινες ἄνδρες ληστρικὸν εὐσεβίας μεταχειρισάμενοι τρόπον ἀποσυλῆσαι ἐπεχείρησαν τὸ λείψανον τοῦ τόπου, παραγενόμενοι ἀπὸ Σουρῶν τοῦ κάστρου, ὥσπερ τινὰ πολύτιμον θησαυρόν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος οὐ συνεχώρησεν κρυφῇ μετενεχθῆναι τὸ σῶμα ὅπερ δημοσίᾳ ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως θριαμβευόμενον καὶ πανταχοῦ περιφερόμενον ἐμαστίζετο, ἀλλ’ ἱκέτευσεν τὸν Θεὸν πῦρ ἀναφθῆναι ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, οὐχ ἵνα τοὺς κλέψαι βουλομένους ἀμείψηται ἢ καταφλέξῃ, ἀλλ’ ἵνα τὸ ζοφῶδες τῆς νυκτὸς φωτίσαντα κατάδηλον τὴν κλοπὴν τοῖς ἐν Ῥοσαφὼν τῷ κάστρῳ γενέσθαι παρασκευάσῃ, ὅπερ καὶ γέγονεν. Ἀναφθέντος γὰρ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ἔνθα ἔκειτο ὁ ἅγιος, θεασάμενοί τινες τῶν ἔνδον οἰκούντων στρατιωτῶν τὴν μέχρι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φθάσασαν φλόγα, νομίσαντες ὑπό τινων πολεμίων τὴν παμμεγέθη πυρκαιὰν γεγενῆσθαι, ἐξῆλθον ἔνοπλοι καὶ ἀπεδίωκον τοὺς προεπιχειρήσαντας κλέψαι τοῦ ἁγίου τὸ λείψανον. Οἱ δὲ παρακαλέσαντες αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖσαι παραμεῖναι ἡμέρας τινὰς καὶ οἰκοδομήσαντες ἐκ λίθων καὶ πηλοῦ τὸ μνῆμα ἔνθα ἔκειτο καὶ στεγάσαντες ἄνωθεν εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος, οὕτως ἀνεχώρησαν.

30. Κατὰ μέρος δὲ προκοπτούσης τῆς περὶ τὸν σωτῆρα καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν εὐσεβείας, κατὰ τοῦτο γενόμενοι ἁγιώτατοί τινες ἐπίσκοποι τὸν ἀριθμὸν δεκαπέντε καὶ οἰκοδομήσαντες ἔνδον τοῦ κάστρου Ροσαφὼν μαρτύριον ἄξιον τῆς ὁμόλογίας αὐτοῦ, μετήνεγκαν τοῦ ἁγίου τὸ λείψανον καὶ κατέθεντο αὐτὸ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ μαρτυρίῳ κατ’αυτὴν τὴν ἡμέραν ἐν ᾗ ἦν τελειωθεὶς μηνὶ Ὀκτωβρίῳ ζ. Πολλὰ δὲ σημεῖα καὶ ἱάσεις ἐπιτελοῦνται πανταχοῦ μὲν ὅπου ἐστὶν ἅγιον αὐτοῦ λείψανον, μάλιστα δὲ ἐν τῷ μνήματι ἔνθα ἔκειτο τὸ πρότερον· σχέσει γὰρ τῆς ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τελειώσεω