Firmilian of Caesarea, Letter to Cyprian 10
I also want to tell you the story of what happened among us, because it bears directly on this matter. About twenty-two years ago, after the reign of Emperor Alexander, our province suffered wave after wave of violence and oppression. Some of it fell on everyone; some was aimed specifically at Christians. Earthquakes struck again and again, toppling buildings across Cappadocia and Pontus, and in places the ground split open and swallowed entire cities. Out of that chaos a severe persecution rose against us who bear the name of Christ. It erupted suddenly after a long period of peace, an unexpected and unfamiliar evil that terrified our people more than anything before. Serenianus was governor at the time, a harsh and relentless persecutor. Amid the turmoil the faithful stood firm, though many fled in fear, abandoned their homes, and escaped to other regions. They could do so because the persecution was local, not empire-wide. In the middle of this upheaval a woman suddenly appeared. She claimed to be in an ecstatic trance, presented herself as a prophetess, and acted as though she were filled with the Holy Spirit. In reality she was driven by the impulse of chief demons. For a long time she unsettled and deceived the brotherhood, performing astonishing and ominous signs and even promising to make the earth move. The demon did not actually have power to shake the earth or any element by its own force. Rather, the evil spirit sometimes foresees a coming quake, understands it, and then pretends it will cause what it already knows is going to happen. Through these lies and boasts she enslaved minds, so that individuals obeyed her and followed wherever she commanded and led. She walked barefoot through bitter winter snows across rough terrain without harm or distress. She also declared she was hurrying to Judea and Jerusalem, pretending she had come from there. She deceived one of our presbyters, Rusticus, and a deacon as well, so that they had sexual relations with her. The truth came out not long afterward. One of our exorcists — a proven man who had always lived faithfully under religious discipline — suddenly confronted her. He had been urged on by many brothers, themselves strong and commendable in the faith. Stirred by their exhortation, he stood up against that evil spirit to overcome it. The spirit had tried to outwit him in advance, predicting through subtle deceit that an adversary and tempter of the faithless would come. Yet the exorcist, inspired by God's grace, resisted firmly and exposed the spirit as utterly wicked, though it had previously been thought holy. This woman, who had already used the demon's tricks and deceptions to devise many schemes for deceiving the faithful, also repeatedly dared to sanctify bread by a solemn invocation and simulate the Eucharist, to offer sacrifice to the Lord without the sacrament of the accustomed preaching, and to baptize many using the usual and legitimate words of interrogation, so that nothing appeared to differ from the church's rule.
Latin
Volo autem vobis et de historia quae apud nos facta est exponere ad hoc ipsum pertinente. Ante viginti enim et duos fere annos, temporibus post Alexandrum imperatorem, multae istic conflictationes et pressurae acciderunt, vel in commune omnibus hominibus, vel privatim Christianis, terrae etiam motus plurimi et frequentes exstiterunt, ut et per Cappadociam et per Pontum multa subruerent, quaedam etiam civitates, in profundum receptae, dirupti soli hiatu devorarentur, ut ex hoc persecutio quoque gravis adversum nos christiani nominis fieret, quae post longam retro aetatis pacem repente oborta de inopinato et insueto malo ad turbandum populum nostrum terribilior effecta est. Serenianus tunc fuit in nostra provincia praeses, acerbus et dirus persecutor. In hac autem perturbatione constitutis fidelibus, et huc atque illuc persecutionis metu fugientibus, et patrias suas relinquentibus, atque in alias partes regionum transeuntibus (erat enim transeundi facultas, eo quod persecutio illa, non per totum mundum, sed localis fuisset), emersit istic subito quaedam mulier, quae in extasim constituta propheten se praeferret et quasi sancto Spiritu plena sic ageret. Ita autem principalium daemoniorum impetu ferebatur, ut per longum tempus sollicitaret et deciperet fraternitatem, admirabilia quaedam et portentosa perficiens, et facere se terram moveri polliceretur. Non quod daemoni tanta esset potestas ut terram movere aut elementum concutere vi sua valeret, sed quod nonnumquam Spiritus nequam, praesciens et intelligens terrae motum futurum, id se facturum esse simularet quod futurum videret. Quibus mendaciis et jactationibus subegerat mentes singulorum ut sibi obedirent, et quocumque praeciperet et duceret sequerentur, faceret quoque mulierem illam cruda hyeme nudis pedibus per asperas nives ire nec vexari in aliquo aut laedi illa discursione, diceret etiam se in Judaeam et Hierosolymam festinare, fingens tamquam inde venisset. Hic et unum de presbyteris Rusticum, item et alium diaconum fefellit, ut eidem mulieri commiscerentur; quod paulo post detectum est: Nam subito apparuit illi unus de exorcistis vir probatus et circa religiosam disciplinam bene semper conversatus, qui exhortatione quoque fratrum plurimorum, qui et ipsi fortes ac laudabiles in fide aderant, excitatus, erexit se contra illum spiritum nequam revincendum; qui subtili fallacia etiam hoc paulo ante praedixerat, venturum quemdam adversum et tentatorem infidelem. Tamen ille exorcista, inspiratus, Dei gratia fortiter restitit, et esse illum nequissimum spiritum qui prius sanctus putabatur, ostendit. Atque illa mulier quae prius per praestigias et fallacias daemonis multa ad deceptionem fidelium moliebatur, inter caetera quibus plurimos deceperat, etiam hoc frequenter ausa est, ut et invocatione non contemptibili sanctificare se panem et Eucharistiam facere simularet, et sacrificium Domino sine sacramento solitae praedicationis offerret, baptizaret quoque multos usitata et legitima verba interrogationis usurpans, ut nil discrepare ab ecclesiastica regula videretur.