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Nor long afterward, however, this military commander became his own
murderer and paid the penalty for his wickedness. But we were obliged
again to endure exile and severe persecutions, and the governors in
every province were once more terribly stirred up against us; so that
even some of those illustrious in the Divine Word were seized and had
sentence of death pronounced upon them without mercy. Three of them in
the city of Emesa in Phoenicia, having confessed that they were
Christians, were thrown as food to the wild beasts. Among them was a
bishop Silvanus, a very old man, who had filled his office full forty
years. At about the same time Peter also, who presided most
illustriously over the parishes in Alexandria, a divine example of a
bishop on account of the excellence of his life and his study of the
sacred Scriptures, being seized for no cause and quite unexpectedly,
was, as if by command of Maxi-minus, immediately and without
explanation, beheaded. With him also many other bishops of Egypt
suffered the same fate. And
Lucian, a presbyter of the parish at Antioch, and a most excellent
man in every respect, temperate in life and famed for his learning in
sacred things, was brought to the city of Nicomedia, where at that
time the emperor happened to be staying, and after delivering before
the ruler an apology for the doctrine which he professed, was committed
to prison and put to death. Such trials were brought upon us in a
brief time by Maximinus, the enemy of virtue, so that this
persecution which was stirred up against us seemed far more cruel than
the former.
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