Martyrdom of Paul

The Martyrdom of the holy apostle Paul

… not being able to get in to Paul because of the crowd, sat at a high window and listened to him teaching the word of God. But the wicked devil was jealous of the love of the brothers, and Patroclus fell from the window and died, so that it was quickly reported to Nero. But Paul, perceiving it in the Spirit, said: 'Men, brothers, the evil one has found an opening to tempt you. Go outside and you will find a boy who has fallen from a height and is already about to breathe his last. Pick him up and bring him here to me.' They went out and brought him. When the crowds saw it they were troubled. Paul says to them: 'Now, brothers, let your faith be seen. Come, all of you, let us weep before our Lord Jesus Christ, so that this boy may live and we may remain undisturbed.' And when all had groaned, the boy took back his breath; and they set him on a beast and sent him away alive, with others who were of Caesar's household. [2] Now Nero, having heard of the death of Patroclus, was greatly grieved, and when he came in from the bath he ordered another to be put in charge of the wine. But his servants told him: 'Caesar, Patroclus is alive and is standing at the table.' And Caesar, hearing that Patroclus was alive, was afraid and did not want to come in. But when he had come in he saw Patroclus, and, beside himself, said: 'Patroclus, are you alive?' He said: 'I am alive, Caesar.' He said: 'Who made you live?' The boy, carried along by the conviction of faith, said: 'Christ Jesus, the King of the ages.' Caesar was troubled and said: 'Is he then going to reign over the ages and destroy all the kingdoms?' Patroclus says to him: 'Yes, he destroys all the kingdoms under heaven, and he alone will be for ever, and there will be no kingdom that will escape him.' He struck him on the face and said: 'Patroclus, do you too serve as a soldier of that king?' He said: 'Yes, lord Caesar; for he raised me when I was dead.' And Barsabas Justus the flat-footed, Urion the Cappadocian and Festus the Galatian, Nero's chief men, said: 'We too serve as soldiers of that King of the ages.' He shut them up, after torturing them terribly, though he loved them greatly, and ordered the soldiers of the great king to be sought out, and put out an edict to this effect: that all who were found to be Christians and soldiers of Christ were to be put to death.

And among the many Paul too is brought in, bound; all those bound with him paid heed to him, so that Caesar perceived that he was in charge of the camp. And he said to him: 'Man of the great king, but now my prisoner, why did you decide to come secretly into the empire of the Romans and enlist soldiers from my province?' But Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, said before all: 'Caesar, we enlist soldiers not only from your province but from the whole world. For this has been ordained for us, that no one who wishes to serve as a soldier of the king should be shut out. If it pleases you too to serve him, it is not wealth or the splendid things of this present life that will save you; but if you submit to him and entreat him, you will be saved. For in one day he is going to make war on the world with fire.' Having heard this,

Caesar ordered the prisoners to be burned with fire, but Paul to be beheaded according to the law of the Romans. [4] But Paul did not keep silent about the word; he shared it with the prefect Longus

and Cestus the centurion. So Nero was raging in Rome at the working of the evil one, and many Christians were being put to death without trial, so that the Romans stood at the palace and cried out: 'Enough, Caesar! These men are ours; you are destroying the strength of the Romans.' Then, persuaded by this, he stopped … and who is coming to judge the world. Longus and Cestus say to Paul: 'Where do you get this king, that you believe in him and will not change your mind even to death?' Paul, sharing the word with them, said: 'Men who are in this ignorance and error, change your minds and be saved from the fire that is coming upon the whole world. For we do not serve as soldiers, as you suppose, of a king who comes from the earth, but from heaven, the living God, who, because of the lawless deeds done in this world, is coming as judge. And blessed is that man who will believe in him and will live for ever, when he comes burning the world to make it clean.' Then they entreated him and said: 'We beg you, help us, and we will let you go.' He answered and said: 'I am not a deserter from Christ, but a lawful soldier of the living God. If I knew that I were going to die, I would have done it, Longus and Cestus; but since I live to God and love myself, I am going to the Lord, so that I may come with him in the glory of his Father.' They say to him: 'How then, when you have been beheaded, shall we live?' [5] While they were still saying this, Nero sends a certain Parthenius and Pheres to see whether Paul had already been beheaded; and they found him still alive. He called them to him and said: 'Believe in the living God, who raises from the dead both me and all who believe in him.' They said: 'We are going …' … and they went away and reported to Caesar what had happened.

When he heard it, he was greatly amazed and at a loss; and about the ninth hour, while many philosophers and the centurion were standing with Caesar, Paul came and stood before them all and said: 'Caesar, here is Paul, the soldier of God. I did not die, but I live in my God. But for you there will be many evils and great punishment, wretched man, because you have unjustly shed the blood of the righteous, and that not many days from now.' And having said this Paul went away from him. Nero, hearing it and being greatly troubled, ordered the prisoners to be released, and Patroclus and those with Barsabas.

And as Paul had directed, at dawn Longus and Cestus the centurion went and came with fear to the tomb of Paul. Standing there they saw two men praying, and Paul between them, so that on seeing the strange wonder they were astounded; while Titus and Luke, seized with human fear when they saw Longus and Cestus coming toward them, turned to flight. But the pursuers called out: 'We are not pursuing you to death, as you suppose, blessed men of God, but to life, so that you may give it to us, as Paul promised us, whom we saw a little while ago standing between you and praying.' Hearing this from them, Titus and Luke, with great joy, gave them the seal in the Lord, glorifying the God and Father