Acts of Phileas and Philoromus

When Phileas had been set on the platform, the governor Culcianus said to him: "Can you now be sober?" Phileas answered: "I am always sober, and I live soberly." Culcianus said: "Sacrifice to the gods." Phileas answered: "I do not sacrifice." Culcianus said: "Why?" Phileas answered: "Because the holy and divine Scriptures say: 'Whoever sacrifices to the gods shall be destroyed, except to God alone.'"

Culcianus said: "Then offer sacrifice to God alone." Phileas answered: "I do not offer it, for God does not desire such sacrifices. For the holy and divine Scriptures say: 'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? says the Lord. I am full; I do not want burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs and the blood of goats; and do not offer fine flour.'"

One of the advocates said: "Are you now pleading about fine flour, or are you now fighting for your life?" The governor Culcianus said: "With what sacrifices, then, is your God pleased?" Phileas answered: "God is pleased with a clean heart, sincere senses and the sacrifice of true words."

Culcianus said: "Sacrifice now." Phileas answered: "I do not sacrifice; I have not learned to." Culcianus said: "Did Paul not sacrifice?" Phileas answered: "No, far from it." Culcianus said: "Did Moses not sacrifice?" Phileas answered: "Only the Jews had been commanded to sacrifice to God alone, in Jerusalem. But now the Jews sin by celebrating their feasts in other places."

Culcianus said: "Enough of these empty words; sacrifice even now." Phileas answered: "I will not defile my soul." The governor said: "Are we destroying a soul?" Phileas answered: "Soul and body." Culcianus said: "This body?" Phileas answered: "This body."

Culcianus said: "Will this flesh rise again?" Saint Phileas answered: "Yes." Culcianus said to him again: "Did Paul not deny Christ?" Phileas answered: "No, far from it." Culcianus said: "I have sworn; you swear too." Phileas answered: "We are not commanded to swear. For the holy Scripture says: 'Let your yes be yes, and your no, no.'"

Culcianus said: "Was Paul not a persecutor?" Phileas answered: "No, far from it." Culcianus said: "Was Paul not an unlearned man? Was he not a Syrian? Did he not argue in Syriac?" Phileas answered: "No; he was a Hebrew, he argued in Greek, and he had the highest wisdom of all."

Culcianus said: "Perhaps you are going to say that he surpassed Plato too." Phileas answered: "He was wiser not only than Plato but than all the philosophers. For he persuaded the wise, and, if you wish, I will tell you his words."

Culcianus said: "Sacrifice now." Phileas answered: "I do not sacrifice." Culcianus said: "Is it a matter of conscience?" Phileas answered: "Yes." Culcianus said: "Then why do you not keep your conscience toward your children and your wife?" Phileas answered: "Because conscience toward God is higher. For the holy and divine Scripture says: 'You shall love the Lord your God who made you.'"

Culcianus said: "Which God?" Phileas stretched out his hands to heaven and said: "The God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them; the creator and maker of all things visible and invisible, the indescribable, who alone is and abides for ever and ever. Amen."

The advocates tried to stop Phileas from saying so much to the governor, telling him: "Why do you resist the governor?" Phileas answered: "I answer him what he asks me."

Culcianus said: "Spare your tongue and sacrifice." Phileas answered: "I do not sacrifice, for I am sparing my soul. And since not only Christians spare their souls but pagans too, take the example of Socrates: when he was led to death, with his wife and his sons standing by him, he did not turn back, but, an old man, accepted death most readily."

Culcianus said: "Was Christ God?" Phileas answered: "Yes." Culcianus said: "How were you persuaded that he was God?" Phileas answered: "He made the blind see and the deaf hear, he cleansed lepers, raised the dead, gave speech back to the dumb and healed many illnesses; a woman with a flow of blood touched the fringe of his garment and was healed; a dead man rose; and he did many other signs and wonders."

Culcianus said: "Is a crucified man God?" Phileas answered: "He was crucified for our salvation. He knew that he was to be crucified and to suffer insults, and he gave himself up to suffer all things for us. For the holy Scriptures had foretold these things about him, which the Jews think they hold, but do not. Let anyone who wishes come and see whether these things are not so."

Culcianus said: "Remember that I have shown you honour. I could have humiliated you in your own city; but wishing to honour you, I did not." Phileas answered: "I thank you; grant me this favour too, and make it complete."

Culcianus said: "What do you want?" Phileas answered: "Use your rashness: do what you have been ordered." Culcianus said: "So you wish to die for no reason?" Phileas answered: "Not for no reason, but for God and for the truth."

[Culcianus said: "Was Paul God?" Phileas answered: "No." Culcianus said: "Then who was he?" Phileas answered: "A man like us, but the divine Spirit was in him, and in the Spirit he did mighty works, signs and wonders."] Culcianus said: "I grant you as a favour to your brother." Phileas answered: "You too, grant me this favour and make it complete: use your rashness, and do what you have been ordered."

Culcianus said: "If I knew that you were in need and had come to this madness because of it, I would not spare you. But since you have great wealth, so that you could feed not only yourself but almost the whole province, I spare you and urge you to sacrifice." Phileas answered: "I do not sacrifice; in this I am sparing myself."

The advocates said to the governor: "He has already sacrificed in the Phrontisterion." Phileas said: "I certainly have not sacrificed." Culcianus said: "Your poor wife is looking at you." Phileas answered: "The Saviour of all our spirits is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I serve in chains. He who called me to the inheritance of his glory is able to call her too."

The advocates said to the governor: "Phileas asks for a delay." Culcianus said to Phileas: "I give you a delay, so that you may think it over." Phileas answered: "I have often thought it over, and I have chosen to suffer for Christ."

The advocates and the court staff, with the curator and all his relatives, clasped his feet, begging him to have regard for his wife and to take care of his children. But he, like an unmoved rock against which a wave breaks, rejected the words of the chatterers, set his mind on heaven, kept God before his eyes, and said that he must count the holy martyrs and apostles as his parents and relatives.

There was present a man named Philoromus, who commanded a troop of Roman soldiers. When he saw Phileas surrounded by the tears of his relatives and worn by the governor's cunning, and yet not able to be bent or broken at all, he cried out, saying:

"Why are you testing this man's constancy so vainly and needlessly? Why do you want to make faithless one who is faithful to God? Why do you force him to deny God so as to give in to men? Do you not see that his eyes do not see your tears, that his ears do not hear your words? How could one whose eyes behold heavenly glory be moved by earthly tears?"

After these words, the anger of all turned on Philoromus, and they demanded that he undergo one and the same sentence with Phileas. The judge gladly agreed and ordered both to be struck with the sword. As they went out to the usual place of execution, Phileas's brother, who was one of the advocates, cried out: "Phileas asks for a pardon." Culcianus called him back and said: "Have you appealed?" Phileas answered: "I have not appealed; far from it. Pay no attention to this most unhappy man. I give great thanks to the emperors and to the governor, since I have become a fellow heir of Jesus Christ." After this Phileas went out.

When they had come to the place where they were to be put to death, Phileas stretched out his hands to the east and cried out: "My dearest little children, all who seek God, keep watch over your hearts, for our adversary prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to carry off. We have not yet suffered: now we begin to suffer, now we have begun to be disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Dearly beloved, attend to the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us call on the spotless, the incomprehensible, who sits upon the cherubim, the maker of all things, who is the beginning and the end, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

When he had said this, the executioners, carrying out the judge's orders, struck their necks with the sword and drove out the unwearied spirits of both, by the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, for ever and ever. Amen.