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E06779: The Greek 'epic' Martyrdom of *Eugenios and Makarios (confessors/martyrs under the emperor Julian, S02560) tells the story of two Christians who are first tortured by Julian the Apostate and then banished into Mauretania, where they convert the locals to Christianity and retreat to a mountain, where they confront a dragon, witness various signs and miracles, and finally die peacefully. Probably written somewhere in the East sometime in the 5th-8th century.
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posted on 2018-10-08, 00:00 authored by NikolaosΜartyrdom of Eugenios and Makarios (BHG 2126)
Βrief summary:
§§ 1-5: Julian the Apostate tortures the brothers Eugenios and Makarios on account of their refusal to renounce Christianity. The saints are first smoked, then put on a grill made of heated irons in fire, to no effect; at first Julian even believes that the fire has somehow been sabotaged. The emperor then summons serpent-charmers in order to have venomous asps attack them, but the snakes exhibit no hostility to the saints, although one makes a threatening move towards the emperor.
§§ 6-8: Frustrated in his attempts to persuade the saints, Julian has them bound in irons and sends them into exile in Mauretania. The brothers reach a city named Dindon(a) and convert the local populace, who are pagans. They then retreat to a nearby mountain, eighteen miles high, so high that the rocks are burnt like embers by the sun. On the mountain they confront a dragon of gigantic proportions that has been terrorising the region, which, through their prayers, is consumed by a wheel-shaped fire from heaven. The saints stay for a while in the dragon's cave and witness a shooting star falling into the East, a sign of Satan's defeat and inability to keep fighting against them.
§§ 9-10: As the saints remain in the wilderness, wild beasts gather round them and roll at their feet. They witness a second sign, a wheel descending from heaven with twelve lamps upon it, which causes a rock to open, giving out a stream of water; after drinking of this water, they no longer suffer hunger or thirst, as they were told by a heavenly voice. Finally, four months after their arrival, the saints foretell their death: they offer a last prayer to God, asking Him to help those who pray to Him through them, and surrender their souls on 22 February.
Text: Halkin 1960, 41-52.
Summary: N. Kälviäinen.
Βrief summary:
§§ 1-5: Julian the Apostate tortures the brothers Eugenios and Makarios on account of their refusal to renounce Christianity. The saints are first smoked, then put on a grill made of heated irons in fire, to no effect; at first Julian even believes that the fire has somehow been sabotaged. The emperor then summons serpent-charmers in order to have venomous asps attack them, but the snakes exhibit no hostility to the saints, although one makes a threatening move towards the emperor.
§§ 6-8: Frustrated in his attempts to persuade the saints, Julian has them bound in irons and sends them into exile in Mauretania. The brothers reach a city named Dindon(a) and convert the local populace, who are pagans. They then retreat to a nearby mountain, eighteen miles high, so high that the rocks are burnt like embers by the sun. On the mountain they confront a dragon of gigantic proportions that has been terrorising the region, which, through their prayers, is consumed by a wheel-shaped fire from heaven. The saints stay for a while in the dragon's cave and witness a shooting star falling into the East, a sign of Satan's defeat and inability to keep fighting against them.
§§ 9-10: As the saints remain in the wilderness, wild beasts gather round them and roll at their feet. They witness a second sign, a wheel descending from heaven with twelve lamps upon it, which causes a rock to open, giving out a stream of water; after drinking of this water, they no longer suffer hunger or thirst, as they were told by a heavenly voice. Finally, four months after their arrival, the saints foretell their death: they offer a last prayer to God, asking Him to help those who pray to Him through them, and surrender their souls on 22 February.
Text: Halkin 1960, 41-52.
Summary: N. Kälviäinen.