← §7 Read continuously §9 → Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne · §8 · Acts of the Martyrs
Blandina grows strong under all-day torture
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The churches of Lyons and Vienne are narrating the tortures, now focusing on the enslaved Blandina.
We were all afraid for her, and so was her fleshly mistress, who was herself also one of the martyrs and a contender in the struggle. Her mistress was in anguish, fearing that weakness of body would keep Blandina from even speaking her profession of faith with boldness. But Blandina was filled with such strength that the men who took turns torturing her in every way from morning until evening wore themselves out and gave up. They admitted themselves that they were beaten and had nothing left they could do to her. They marveled that she still breathed when her whole body was broken open and laid bare, and they declared that one single kind of racking should have been enough to drive the soul from her, let alone such great and so many torments. But the blessed woman was made young again like a noble athlete in her profession of faith, and her recovery and rest and deadening of pain lay in saying, "I am a Christian and nothing base happens among us."
Greek Ἡμῶν γὰρ πάντων δεδιότων καὶ τῆς σαρκίνης δεσποίνης αὐτῆς, ἥτις ἦν καὶ αὐτὴ τῶν μαρτύρων μία ἀγωνίστρια, ἀγωνιώσης μὴ οὐδὲ τὴν ὁμολογίαν δυνήσεται παρρησιάσασθαι διὰ τὸ ἀσθενὲς τοῦ σώματος, ἡ Βλανδῖνα τοσαύτης ἐπληρώθη δυνάμεως ὥστε ἐκλυθῆναι καὶ παρεθῆναι τοὺς κατὰ διαδοχὰς παντὶ τρόπῳ βασανίζοντας αὐτὴν ἀπὸ ἑωθινῆς ἕως ἑσπέρας, καὶ αὐτοὺς ὁμολογοῦντας ὅτι νενίκηνται μηδὲν ἔχοντες μηκέτι ὃ ποιήσωσιν αὐτῇ, καὶ θαυμάζειν ἐπὶ τῷ παραμένειν ἔμπνουν αὐτήν, παντὸς τοῦ σώματος περιερρωγότος καὶ ἠνεῳγμένου, καὶ μαρτυρεῖν ὅτι ἓν εἶδος στρεβλώσεως ἱκανὸν ἦν πρὸς τὸ ἐξαγαγεῖν τὴν ψυχήν, οὐχ ὅτι γε τοιαῦτα καὶ τοσαῦτα. Ἀλλ᾽ ἡ μακαρία ὡς γενναῖος ἀθλητὴς ἀνενέαζεν ἐν τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ, καὶ ἦν αὐτῆς ἀνάληψις καὶ ἀνάπαυσις καὶ ἀναλγησία τῶν συμβαινόντων τὸ λέγειν ὅτι· Χριστιανή εἰμι καὶ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν οὐδὲν φαῦλον γίνεται.
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About this text Christians at Vienne and Lyons have suffered exclusion, arrest, torture and death in a civic persecution.
The letter was written by the churches of Lyons and Vienne to the brothers and sisters in faith in Asia and Phrygia who hold the same faith and hope. It was written in Greek after Christians at Vienne and Lyons suffered exclusion, arrest, torture and death in a civic persecution under Marcus Aurelius. The writers report the scale of the affliction and the endurance of the martyrs.
The letter presents the assault as the work of the devil, who trains his own people against the servants of Christ, while grace makes firm pillars who draw the attack onto themselves and count suffering small beside the coming glory. The reader meets Vettius Epagathus who volunteers to defend the accused, Sanctus the deacon from Vienne, Maturus, Attalus the man from Pergamum, the enslaved Blandina, Biblis, the bishop Pothinus and Zacharias. Sanctus answers every interrogation only with I am a Christian, Blandina declares I am a Christian and nothing base happens among us, Biblis answers the slander about eating children, Pothinus answers the governor about who is the God of the Christians, and a saying is given as spoken by our Lord that killers will think they offer worship to God.
In this rendering martyrs means Christians who confess under torture and death, profession of faith means the public declaration I am a Christian, those who denied the faith means Christians who denied Christ at first arrest, the pagans means the local populace and soldiers acting against them, governor means the Roman officer who interrogates, servants of Christ means Christians bound to Christ, advocate means a defender and the Spirit within, the devil means Satan, and torture means judicial punishment to force denial or slander. Thyestean feasts and Oedipodean unions are old phrases for the false slanders that Christians ate children and practiced forbidden unions. Sayings from scripture are woven in without book names or citation except the one introduced as spoken by our Lord, and this rendering adds modern chapter and verse in parentheses.
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