|
A WOMAN by name Eusebia, who was a deaconess of the Macedonian
sect, had a house and garden without the walls of Constantinople, in
which she kept the holy remains of forty soldiers, who had suffered
martyrdom under Licinius at Sebaste in Armenia. When she felt death
approaching, she bequeathed the aforesaid place to some orthodox
monks, and bound them by oath to bury her there, and to hew out
separately a place above her head at the top of her coffin, and to
deposit the relics of the martyrs with her, and to inform no one. The
monks did so; but in order to render due honor to the martyrs
secretly, according to the agreement with Eusebia, they formed a
subterranean house of prayer near her tomb. But open to view, an
edifice was erected above the foundation, inclosed with baked bricks,
and a secret descent from it to the martyrs. Soon after, Caesar, a
man among those in power, who had formerly been advanced to the dignity
of consul and prefect, lost his wife, and caused her to be interred
near the tomb of Eusebia; for the two ladies had been knit together by
the most tender friendship, and had been of one mind on all doctrinal
and religious subjects. Caesar was hence induced to purchase this
place so that he might be entombed near his wife. The aforesaid monks
settled elsewhere, and without divulging anything about the martyrs.
After this, when the building was demolished, and when the earth and
refuse were scattered about, the whole place was smoothed off. For
Caesarius himself erected there a magnificent temple to God to the
honor of Thyrsus, the martyr. It appears probable that God
designedly willed the aforesaid place to disappear, and so long a time
to elapse in order that the discovery of the martyrs might be regarded
as more marvelous and a more conspicuous event, and as a proof of the
Divine favor towards the discoverer. The discoverer was, in fact,
no other than the Empress Pulcheria, the sister of the emperor. The
admirable Thyrsus appeared to her three times, and revealed to her
those concealed beneath the earth; and commanded that they should be
deposited near his tomb, in order that they might share in the same
position and honor. The forty martyrs themselves also appeared to
her, arrayed in shining robes. But the occurrence seemed too
marvelous to be credible, and altogether impossible; for the aged of
clergy of that region, after having frequently prosecuted inquiries,
had not been able to indicate the position of the martyrs, nor indeed
had any one else. At length, when everything was hopeless,
Polychronius, a certain presbyter, who had formerly been a servant in
the household of Caesar, was reminded by God that the locality in
question had once been inhabited by monks. He therefore went to the
clergy of the Macedonian sect to inquire concerning them. All the
monks were dead, with the exception of one, who seemed to have been
preserved in life for the express purpose of pointing out the spot where
the relics of the holy martyrs were concealed. Polychronius.
questioned him closely on the subject, and find ing that, on account
of the agreement made with Eusebia, his answers were somewhat
undecided, he made known to him the Divine revelation and the anxiety
of the empress, as well as the failure of her recourses. The monk
then confessed that God had declared the truth to the empress; for at
the time when he was an overgrown boy, and was taught the monastic life
by its aged leaders, he remembered exactly that the relics of the
martyrs had been deposited near the tomb of Eusebia; but that the
subsequent lapse of time, and the changes which had been carried on in
that locality, deprived him of the power of recalling to his
recollection whether the relics had been deposited beneath the church or
in any other spot. And further said Polychronius, "I have not
suffered a like lapse of memory, for I remember that I was present at
the interment of the wife of Caesar, and, as well as I can judge
from the relative situation of the high road, I infer that she must
have been buried beneath the ambo"; this is the platform for the
readers. "Therefore," subjoined the monk, "it must be near the
remains of Caesar's wife that the tomb of Eusebia must be sought;
for the two ladies lived on terms of the closest friendship and
intimacy, and mutually agreed to be interred beside each other."
When it was necessary to dig, according to the aforesaid intimations,
and to track out the sacred relics, and the empress had learned the
facts, she commanded them to begin the work. On digging up the earth
by the ambo, the coffin of Caesar's wife was discovered according to
the conjecture of Polychronius. At a short distance on the side they
found the, pavement of baked bricks, and a marble tablet of equal
dimensions, each the measure of the bricks, under which the coffin of
Eusebin was disclosed; and dose by was an oratory, elegantly inclosed
with white and purple marble. The cover of the tomb was in the form,
of a holy table, and at the summit, where the relics were deposited,
a small orifice was visible. A man attached to the palace, who
happened to be standing by, thrust a cane which he held in his hand
into the orifice; and on withdrawing the cane he held it to his nose,
and inhaled a sweet odor of myrrh, which inspired the workmen and
bystanders with fresh confidence. When they had eagerly opened the
coffin, the remains of Eusebia were found, and near her head was the
prominent part of the tomb fashioned exactly in the form of a chest,
and was concealed within by its own cover; and the iron which inclosed
it on each side at the edges was firmly held together by lead. In the
middle, the same orifice again appeared, and still more clearly
revealed the fact of the relics being concealed within. As soon as the
discovery was announced, they ran to the church of the martyr, and
sent for smiths to unfasten the iron bars, and easily drew off the
lid. A great many perfumes were found thereunder, and among the
perfumes two silver caskets were found in which lay the holy relics.
Then the princess returned thanks to God for having accounted her
worthy of so great a manifestation and for attaining the discovery of
the holy relics. After this she honored the martyrs with the costliest
casket; and on the conclusion of a public festival which was celebrated
with befitting honor and with a procession to the accompaniment of
psalms, and at which I was present, the relics were placed alongside
of the godlike Thyrsus. And others who were present can also bear
testimony that these things were done in the way described, for almost
all of them still survive. And the event occurred much later, when
Proclus governed the church of Constantinople.
|
|