Baring-Gould’s sources: Venerated on this day, especially in the Laura of S. Sabas between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. The Menology of the Emperor Basil, and the Modem Roman Martyrology. Authority: — The Greek Acts by Nilus, an eye-witness of a great part of what he describes. These Acts are of special interest, both on account of the freshness of the style, and because of the introduction of many words of the Galatian dialect. The authenticity of these Acts is beyond a doubt.] Theodotus was an innkeeper near Ancyra in Galatia, a worthy man, and a good Christian, who, in time of persecution, sheltered many of the faithful in his house. At that time the governor Theotecnus was using his best endeavours to destroy Christianity in Ancyra. A man named Victor was brought before him, accused of having spoken mockingly of the gods, and Theotecnus ordered him to be scourged. Under the excess of his anguish Victor asked to be taken down and allowed a respite to reconsider his determination. He was led back to prison, but died there, “ leaving us in doubt, says the author, “as to what was the end of his confession, and to this day his memory is obscured by uncertainty/' One day Theodotus the innkeeper was returning to Ancyra from the river Halys, whence he had recovered the body of a martyr named Valens, who had been flung into it, when at the fortieth milestone from Ancyra, he and a party of fellow-Christians who were with him, rested in a pleasant shady place on the grass, opened their baskets, and produced their food. Near at hand was the village of Malos, and Theodotus sent one of his companions into it to find the Christian priest, named Fronto, who lived there, to share their meal. Fronto came, and found the party lying on the grass enjoying the shade, and he was warmly greeted by Theodotus. The priest urged them all to come to his farm and shelter there, but they were so pleased with the beauty of the spot that they declined, preferring to eat in the open air. Then Theodotus said, suddenly, “ Oh J what a spot for a confession.” By this name the oratories and afterwards the churches were called which were built over the tombs of martyrs. And he added, " Fronto, build one here.” “ My friend,” said the priest, “you are too precipitate; we must have the martyr before we can have the church.” “ Ancyra is the scene of many a conflict now,” said Theodotus, “ build the church, and I will provide you with the martyr. Here, take this as token, and return it me when I have redeemed the pledge.” Then he plucked a gold ring off his finger, and placed it on that of the priest.
After this they parted, and Theodotus returned to the city. Now about this time seven virgins were accused and brought before the magistrate. Their names were Tecusa, Alexandra, Phaina, Claudia, Euphrasia, Matrona, and Julitta. Of these the three first were consecrated virgins (Apotactitse), and Tecusa was the aunt of Theodotus the innkeeper. As the magistrate, Theotecnus, was unable to move the constancy of these virgins, he gave them up to be insulted by some young men, who began to address them in the most offensive terms. Tecusa suddenly turned upon the most insolent of these reprobates, and plucking off the veil which had covered her head and concealed the features said, “ Boy, cease your impertinence; look on my wrinkles and white hair; perchance you have an old mother with grey head, reverence that grey head in me.” She shamed him, and the others put to the blush as well, by the dignified modesty of the virgins, left them without further annoyance. But Theotecnus, the magistrate, was determined to break their constancy, and to effect this he had recourse to an expedient of almost unparalleled cruelty. The next day was a celebrated festival at Ancyra, which consisted in the solemn and public washing of the image of the goddess Diana in a shallow pool or marsh near the city. But one of the most offensive rites of heathen worship was associated with this ceremony. It was customary for those women who consecrated themselves to become priestesses of Diana to bathe publicly with the idol. Taking advantage of this festival, Theotecnus gave orders that the seven virgins should be stripped, their hands bound behind them, and that they should be carried on carts in the procession with the idol to the pond, and that they should be bathed with it, and be thus consecrated priestesses whether they willed it or not.
The writer then describes the hideous procession, each poor woman upright in one cart, and seven carts preceding that in which was the idol, a band going before with trumpets, cymbals and shawns, and a roaring, laughing, mad multitude on either side eager for the sport, pouring towards the marshy pool.
In the meantime Theodotus and several Christians were assembled in a cottage near at hand, belonging to a poor man, named Theocharis, where they remained instant in prayer, ashamed to go forth to such a spectacle, and bleeding at heart for the poor sufferers. But the wife of Theocharis was sent out to watch the proceedings and to bring them news of what took place. The blare of trumpets, the rush of feet, and the roar of voices passed, and all was still. Presently the woman came to the door, and announced that the seven virgins had all been drowned. In vain had they been offered the white robes and crowns of flowers belonging to a priestess of Diana, they had thrust them away with indignation, and the governor had ordered stones to be attached to the necks of the seven virgins and that they should be flung into the water, and so they all had been drowned.
Then the Christians rose from the floor on which they had cast themselves, weeping and praying, and standing they stretched their hands to heaven and cried, “ Thanks, thanks, be to Thee, O God.” And after a pause Theodotus asked eagerly, “ Where were they cast, in the shallow part or near the middle ? ”
“ About two acres of water lie between the place where they have been sunk and the shore.” In the evening Theodotus consulted with his younger brother Polychronius and with Theocharis as to the possibility of recovering the bodies. The water was nowhere very deep. But having sent a boy to examine the spot, they were told by him that a guard of soldiers was stationed by the lake to prevent the Christians from approaching it to recover the corpses.
This disheartened Theodotus; but that night he dreamt that his aunt appeared to him, and bade him not fear, but rescue the bodies. “ Only,” she added, “ beware of traitors.” Next morning early the boy — his name was Glycerius — was sent again to observe the lake. He returned with the news that the soldiers were still there. However, as the day was a great festival to Diana, they suspected that the guard would be withdrawn, and later in the morning Theocharis and Glycerius were sent again to see. They returned with the news that the watch was still on guard. Theodotus accordingly remained within all day. As soon as night fell, Theodotus and the others went out armed with sickles wherewith to cut the cords that attached the stones to the necks of the dead women. The night was pitch dark. Not a star was visible. Their way led through the place of public execution, ‘‘a place carefully avoided by every one after sunset,” where grinning heads were erect on May 184.SVS*. Theodotus & Comp. 249 poles, and charred bodies stood attached to the posts by iron hoops, leaning forward, with drooping arms; and here and there a headless corpse lay on the ground. Imagine all this, lit by sudden flashes of lightning, and with thunder rumbling in the distance, and you may well believe Nilus when he says that they were dreadfully frightened. However, they signed themselves with the cross, and pushed on. The night became so dark that one could not see the other, and now rain began to fall in torrents, and the lightning blazed with dazzling effulgence, leaving next moment everything darker by contrast. The advancing party were uncertain of their way, the road became muddy, and they slipped about. Then, in their uncertainty, they stood still and prayed. Instantly they saw two lanterns going along the road before them in the direction of the lake, they followed till they found themselves at the spot where the guards had been posted, but the guards were not there, they had taken shelter from the storm. The Christians then went into the water and waded on till they came to the bodies, when they severed the cords, and brought them all to the shore, and having carried them to where some packhorses had been brought for the purpose, they conveyed them away and buried them. Next morning it was discovered that the bodies had been stolen, and the governor was furious. Polychronius went into the town, disguised as a countryman, but was taken and brought before the governor, who threatened him with torture unless he would renounce Christ. The wretched man, in his abject fear to escape the rack, betrayed what he knew, and told Theotecnus that the bodies of the seven martyred virgins had been stolen by Theodotus, and showed the governor where they were concealed.
Theotecnus ordered the bodies to be cast into a huge fire and consumed, and that Theodotns should be sought out and brought before him.
In the meantime Theodotus was in the cottage of Theocharis, wondering at the delay of his brother. At last he resolved to go forth and see what had become of him. He bade farewell to his friends and left the house. He had not gone far before he met two Christians, running, to warn him to fly, as Polychronius had turned traitor. Theodotus knew that flight was now in vain, and he walked boldly forward into the town, strode into the court before the governor, and said with unmoved countenance, “ Here am I.” It would answer his purpose better to obtain the apostasy than the execution of Theodotus, therefore the governor tried hard to persuade the innkeeper into compliance with his will. But Theodotus remained inflexible. And then the governor lost all control over himself, and ordered him to immediate torture. The martyr looked round with a bright unclouded face on the braziers containing pincers red-hot, the molten lead, the rack, and the hideous fleshrakes clotted with skin and gore.
He was tied to the rack, and his sides were lacerated with the hooks. These were little iron rakes which tore the flesh to the bones. The people shouted, the idol-priests ran about exciting them against the martyr, and clamouring for keener torments. When his body was a mass of wounds, Theotecnus ordered vinegar to be poured over it, and torches to be applied to his sides. Then, stung by the acid, and shrinking from the fire, the martyr turned his head with a sharp movement. “ Ah ! ” shouted the governor, leaping down into the place of execution, “ where is your boasting ? See what your contempt of the gods has brought you to.” “I scorn thy gods, I despise thy emperors, and thee I regard but as their freed-man,” said the martyr. “Smash that publican’s jaw,” said Theotecnus furiously, and the martyrs cheeks and teeth were beaten with a stone. After that the governor ordered him to be removed from the rack and cast into prison.
There the sufferer languished for five days, at the end of which he was again brought out, and Theotecnus ordered him to be placed on red-hot coals, and afterwards to be re-hung on the rack and all the old wounds which had begun to skin over, to be ripped open again. Then, weary with torturing him, he bade him to be taken on a tumbril out of the town and executed.
So he was carried forth, and all Ancyra rushed to the spot of execution, men, women, and children, shouting, running, and jeering the martyr. And when Theodotus was at the place, he raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, “Lord Jesus Christ, I thank Thee that Thou hast given me strength to crush the head of the old dragon. Give rest to Thy servants, and restrain the violence of the enemy; give peace to Thy Church, and save it from the tyranny of the evil one.” So saying, he received the mortal stroke. Then by the commands of the governor a quantity of wood was collected and the body was thrown on the heap, and the soldiers attempted to light the pile to consume the corpse, but the rains had so moistened the sticks that they would not kindle, and as the day was far advanced, the burning of the body of the martyr was postponed till the following day. But lest the Christians should steal it away, a guard was detailed to watch it. No sooner had dusk set in than the soldiers, expecting a rainy night, set to work with hatchets and cut and drove four posts into the ground, for the construction of a lodge, wattled the sides with branches, and thatched the top with broom and rushes, leaving the hut open towards the pile on which lay the body, covered with grass and branches. Now it chanced that late the same night the priest Fronto came towards Ancyra driving an ass laden with some old wine which he purposed selling in the city. The way was long, forty miles, the ass slow, and he did not approach his destination till near midnight. Passing the bivouac of the soldiers, they called to him and asked him where he was going. He answered that he was going into the city. “ Friend, all the taverns are closed long ago,” said one of the guard; “ come and keep us company till the day breaks.” Fronto, seeing that this was his best course, tethered the ass, unladed it, and sat himself by the bivouac fire among the soldiers. Then follows an amusing account of the talk of the guards, how they puzzled Fronto with their allusions to the martyrdoms that had taken place, how their slang expressions were incomprehensible to him, and he was obliged to tell them that as he had not brought an interpreter with him, they must talk more intelligibly. At last he grasped the whole position. A martyr's body lay on the faggots outside, and the martyr was his friend Theodotus. Perhaps at the same moment the story of the master-thief and King Rhampsinitas, as related by Herodotus, flashed into his memory; perhaps he only caught at the readiest expedient that presented itself. At any rate an incident in that old legend was repeated on this occasion. The priest-* produced some of his old wine. “ This is rare wine,” said one of the soldiers; “ how old is it ? ” “ Five years.” “ I shan’t forget it in a hurry; no, not till I take my sip of better,” said another. “Ah !” quoth a third, “ I need a good draught of strong wine to forget the hiding I got for letting the bodies of those old women be whisked off, the other night.” So talking, they drank, and Fronto spared not the liquor, till the whole party had fallen into a drunken slumber.
Then he softly stole out, uncovered the body, recognized it, and saying, “ Ah ! Theodotus, dost thou thus redeem thy pledge ? ” placed the gold ring on the dead man’s finger, tied his body on the ass, loosed the tether, and let the ass go, trusting that it would at once make the best of its way back to the stable. Then he arranged the grass and bushes on the pyre, as though nothing had been touched, and then began to cry and beat his hands, as if in despair. Some of the soldiers woke and ran to him and asked what was the matter. “ My ass has broken his tether and has run away ! ”
Had Fronto gone off with his ass, the soldiers would have suspected mischief, but by this expedient he completely threw them off their guard, and after they had quaffed some more of his wine, they allowed him to depart. Fronto at once hurried home, and found the ass with its load at his stable door. He removed the body to the grove where Theodotus had desired to see a u confession " erected, and there buried him.
