E04060: Sozomen in his Ecclesiastical History recounts the martyrdom of *Eusebios, Nestavos, Zenon, and Nestor (martyrs of Gaza under the emperor Julian, ob. 362/3, S01653), the collection of their relics and the construction of their shrine under Theodosius I (r. 379-395). Written in Greek at Constantinople, 439/450.

Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, 5.9.

(1) Ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰς τοῦτο προήχθην λόγου καὶ τὴν Γεωργίου καὶ Θεοδωρήτου ἀναίρεσιν διεξῆλθον, καιρὸν ἔχειν δοκῶ ποιήσασθαι μνήμην Εὐσεβίου καὶ Νεστάβου καὶ Ζήνωνος τῶν ἀδελφῶν· οὓς Χριστιανοὺς ὄντας κατὰ τοῦτο μισῶν ὁ τῶν Γαζαίων δῆμος οἴκοι κρυπτομένους συνελάβοντο καὶ δεσμωτηρίῳ τὰ πρῶτα παρέδοσαν καὶ ἐμαστίγωσαν. (2) ἔπειτα συνελθόντες εἰς τὸ θέατρον πλεῖστα αὐτῶν κατεβόησαν, ὡς κακουργησάντων τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει καὶ ὕβρει τοῦ Ἑλληνισμοῦ τῷ παρελθόντι χρόνῳ ἀποχρησαμένων. ἐν δὲ τῷ κεκραγέναι καὶ παροτρύνειν ἀλλήλους εἰς τὸν κατ’ αὐτῶν φόνον ἐνεπλήσθησαν θυμοῦ. (3) καὶ παρακελευσάμενοι ἑαυτοῖς, οἷά γε δῆμος στασιάζων εἴωθε, κατέδραμον εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον· καὶ ἐξαγαγόντες αὐτοὺς ὠμότατα διεχρήσαντο πῇ μὲν πρηνεῖς, πῇ δὲ ὑπτίους ἕλκοντες καὶ τῷ ἐδάφει προσρηγνύντες καὶ ᾗ ἔτυχον παίοντες, οἱ μὲν λίθοις, οἱ δὲ ξύλοις, ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλοις τισὶ τοῖς ἐπιτυχοῦσιν. (4) ἐπυθόμην δὲ αὖ, ὡς καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες ἐκ τῶν ἱστῶν ἐξιοῦσαι ταῖς κερκίσιν αὐτοὺς κατεκέντουν καὶ τῶν ἐπ’ ἀγορᾶς μαγείρων οἱ μὲν ὕδατι θερμῷ κοχλάζοντας τοὺς λέβητας ἐξαρπάζοντες τῶν χυτροπόδων κατέχεον, οἱ δὲ τοῖς ὀβελίσκοις διέπειρον. (5) ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτοὺς διεσπάραξαν καὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἔθλασαν, ὡς καὶ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον χαμαὶ ῥεῖν, ἤγαγον πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεως, ᾗ τὰ ἀποθνήσκοντα τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων ῥίπτειν εἰώθεσαν· καὶ πῦρ ἀνάψαντες ἔκαυσαν αὐτῶν τὰ σώματα· καὶ τὰ περιλειφθέντα τῶν ὀστέων, ὅσα μὴ τὸ πῦρ ἐδαπάνησε, τοῖς ἐρριμμένοις αὐτόθι καμήλων τε καὶ ὄνων ὀστέοις ἀνέμιξαν, ὥστε μὴ ῥᾳδίαν αὐτῶν εἶναι τὴν εὕρεσιν.

(6) ἔλαθέ γε μὴν οὐκ ἐπὶ πολύ· γυνὴ γάρ τις Χριστιανὴ οὐκ ἀπὸ Γάζης οὖσα, ἀλλ’ ἐνθάδε τὴν οἴκησιν ἔχουσα, κατὰ θείαν σύνταξιν ἀνελέξατο ταῦτα νύκτωρ, καὶ ἐμβαλοῦσα χύτρᾳ Ζήνωνι τῷ αὐτῶν ἀνεψιῷ φυλάττειν ἔδωκεν. ὧδε γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ὀνείροις ἔχρησεν ὁ θεός, καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα τῇ γυναικὶ κατεμήνυσεν ᾗ διάγοι· καὶ πρὶν ἰδεῖν ἐπέδειξε, καθότι ἀγνὼς ἦν αὐτῇ καὶ προσφάτως τοῦ διωγμοῦ κεκινημένου ἐκρύπτετο. (7) ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς τότε μικροῦ συλληφθεὶς παρὰ τῶν Γαζαίων ἀνῃρέθη· ἀσχολουμένου δὲ τοῦ πλήθους περὶ τὸν φόνον τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀνεψιῶν καιρὸν εὑρὼν ἔφυγεν εἰς Ἀνθηδόνα πόλιν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν, ἀφεστῶσαν Γάζης ὡσεὶ σταδίους εἴκοσι, παραπλησίως δὲ τηνικαῦτα τῷ Ἑλληνισμῷ χαίρουσαν καὶ περὶ τὴν θεραπείαν τῶν ξοάνων ἐπτοημένην. (8) καταμηνυθεὶς δὲ ἐνταῦθα ὡς Χριστιανός, δεινῶς κατὰ νώτου ῥάβδοις ἐμαστιγώθη παρὰ τῶν Ἀνθηδονίων καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐξηλάθη· καὶ εἰς τὸ τῶν Γαζαίων ἐπίνειον ἐλθὼν ἔλαθεν ἐκεῖσε κρυπτόμενος. (9) ἔνθα δὴ περιτυχὸν αὐτῷ τὸ γύναιον τὰ λείψανα δέδωκεν· ὁ δὲ τέως μὲν οἴκοι ταῦτα ἐφύλαττεν· ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν αὐτόθι ἐκκλησίαν ἔλαχεν ἐπισκοπεῖν (συνέβη δὲ τοῦτο ἐπὶ τῆς Θεοδοσίου βασιλείας), εὐκτήριον ἐδείματο οἶκον πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεως, καὶ θυσιαστήριον ἐν αὐτῷ ἐπήξατο, καὶ τὰ ὀστέα τῶν μαρτύρων ἀπέθετο πλησίον Νέστορος τοῦ ὁμολογητοῦ, ὃς τῷ βίῳ περιοῦσι τοῖς αὐτοῦ ἀνεψιοῖς συνῆν καὶ συλληφθεὶς ἅμα αὐτοῖς παρὰ τοῦ δήμου δεσμῶν καὶ μαστίγων ἐκοινώνησεν. (10) ἐν δὲ τῷ ἕλκεσθαι καλὸν ἔχοντα τὸ σῶμα ἰδόντες οἱ ἕλκοντες ἠλέησαν· καὶ πρὸ τῶν πυλῶν ἔτι μὲν ἐμπνέοντα, ἀποθανεῖν δὲ προσδοκώμενον ἔρριψαν· ἀνελόμενοι δέ τινες πρὸς Ζήνωνα διεκόμισαν, παρ’ ᾧ τὰ ἕλκη καὶ τὰς πληγὰς ἔτι θεραπευόμενος ἐτελεύτησεν.

(11) Γαζαῖοι δὲ τὸ μέγεθος ἀναλογιζόμενοι τοῦ οἰκείου τολμήματος περιδεεῖς ἦσαν, μὴ οὐκ ἀνέξεται ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀτιμωρήτους σφᾶς αὐτοὺς καταλιπεῖν· ἤδη γὰρ καὶ φήμη τις διεφοίτα, ὡς χαλεπῶς φέροι καὶ ἀποδεκατοῦν τὸ πλῆθος σπουδάζοι. (12) ἦν δὲ ταῦτα ψεῦδος καὶ θρῦλος μόνον, ὡς εἰκός, δημώδης ὑπὸ δειλίας καὶ τοῦ συνειδέναι ἃ δεδράχασιν ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς περιφερόμενος, ἐπειδὴ οὐδέ—τοῦτο δὴ τὸ πρὸς Ἀλεξανδρέας γεγονὸς ἐπὶ Γεωργίου—οὐδὲ ἐν γράμμασιν ἐμέμψατο τοῖς Γαζαίοις. (13) ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἡγούμενον τότε τοῦ ἔθνους τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφείλετο καὶ ἐν ὑπονοίᾳ εἶχε· καὶ ἀγώγιμον ποιήσας τὸ μὴ θανάτου καταψηφίσασθαι φιλανθρωπίαν ἐλογίσατο· ἐπῃτιᾶτο δὲ αὐτόν, καθότι τινὰς τῶν Γαζαίων, οἳ τῆς στάσεως καὶ τῶν φόνων ἄρξαι ἐλέγοντο, συλλαβόμενος ἐν δεσμοῖς εἶχεν, ὡς κατὰ νόμους εὐθύνας ὑφέξοντας· τί γάρ, φησίν, ἔδει αὐτοὺς ἀπάγεσθαι, εἰ Γαλιλαίους ὀλίγους, ἀνθ’ ὧν πολλὰ εἰς αὐτοὺς καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἠδίκησαν, ἠμύναντο; καὶ τὰ μὲν ὧδε λέγεται.


'1. As I have come to this point and recounted the death of Georgios and of Theodoretos, I believe that it is opportune to commemorate the brothers Eusebios, Nestavos, and Zenon. Hating them for being Christians, the people of Gaza arrested them, while they were hiding at their home, and initially cast them into prison and flogged them. 2. They then gathered in the theatre and cried out several accusations against them for having damaged the shrines and spent the previous period to dismantling and offending paganism. Shouting and exciting one another to murdering them, they were filled with fury. 3. Inciting each other, as a rioting mob normally does, they rushed to the prison. They took them out and treated them with great cruelty and, dragging them along, sometimes face down, sometimes with their backs on the ground, they scratched them on the floor, and beat them wherever they could, some with stones, some with sticks, others with anything they would find. 4. I am told that even women quitted their distaffs and pierced them with weaving-spindles, and that the cooks in the market snatched from their stands the boiling pots foaming with hot water and poured it over them, or pierced them with spits. 5. Once they had torn them into pieces and crushed their skulls, so that their brains were running out on the ground, they took them out of the city to the spot where they used to throw out dying animals. They kindled a fire and burned the bodies, while the remaining bones which had not been consumed by the fire they mixed with those of camels and asses, so that they might not be easy to find.

6. But they were not long concealed. A Christian woman – not from Gaza, but living there – collected the bones at night, having been instigated by God. She put them in a pot and gave them to Zenon, their cousin, to keep. This was namely what God had instructed her to do in a dream. He also had indicated to the woman where the man lived. She had not seen him before God had indicated him to her, as he was previously unknown to her and was hiding, since the recent breakout of the persecution. 7. In that period, he himself nearly risked being seized and killed by the people of Gaza, but, while the people were busy murdering his cousins, he found the opportunity to fly to Anthedon, a maritime city, about twenty stades from Gaza, which back then was similarly fond of paganism and devoted to the worship of statues. 8. When the inhabitants of this city discovered that he was a Christian, they beat him terribly on the back with rods and drove him out of town. He then secretly fled to the port of Gaza and hid himself there. 9. Here the woman met him and gave him the relics. He kept them in his house for a long time and, when he became bishop of the local church (this took place during the reign of Theodosius), he built a house of prayer outside the city, placed an altar there, and deposited the bones of the martyrs near Nestor the confessor. This latter had been an associate of Zenon’s cousins, in his lifetime, and was seized together with them by the people, sharing with them prison and flogging. 10. Yet, as he was being dragged, they pitied him, for they saw the beauty of his body, and left him outside the gates, still breathing but bound to die imminently. Some persons collected and carried him to Zenon, where he died, while his bruises and wounds were still being treated.

11. The people of Gaza, realising the enormity of their crime, were afraid that the emperor [= Julian] would not suffer to leave them unpunished. For a rumour was circulating that the emperor was angry and planning to decimate the population. 12. Yet this was just a lie and popular rumour, as it seems, spread among the population by fear and awareness of what they had done, because he [Julian] did not even send a letter reproaching the Gazans, as he had done to the Alexandrians when they killed Georgios. 13. On the contrary, he deposed the governor of the province of that time and held him in suspicion. He had him exiled, regarding it as an act of charity not to condemn him to death. The accusation against him was that he had arrested some people from Gaza who were said to have begun the sedition and murders, and that he them in gaol awaiting trial according to the law. For what need was there, the emperor said, to arrest them just for punishing a few Galileans for the numerous crimes they had committed against them and the gods? This is what they say about this affair.’

Text: Bidez and Hansen 1995. Translation: E. Rizos.