(A.D. 404.)
[Roman Martyrology and German Martyrologies. Not commemorated by
the Greeks. Authorities: Sozomen, lib. viii. c. 22, 23; Nicephorus
Callistus, lib. xiii.; S. John Chrysostom also, in his 12th letter
to S. Olympias, speaks of Tigris the priest.]
When S. John Chrysostom had incurred the anger of the Empress Eudoxia,
by declaiming against her silver statue set up close to the church of
the Eternal Wisdom at Constantinople, by her machinations he was deposed
and exiled from the city, and Arsacius was ordained patriarch of
Constantinople in his room. But a large company of bishops and priests,
and others of the clerical order, refused to recognize the right of
Arsacius, and being driven from the churches, held their divine worship
in places apart. For the space of two months after his deposition,
Chrysostom remained at his post, though he refrained from appearing in
public; after that he was obliged to leave, being banished by the
Emperor Arcadius. On the very day of his departure the church caught
fire, and a strong easterly wind carried the flames to the senate
house.[39] The party opposed to S. John Chrysostom immediately spread
the report that this fire was the result of a wilful act of incendiarism
by the Johannites, or party of the exiled bishop. Socrates, the
historian, strongly prejudiced against Chrysostom, distinctly charged
them with the act. He says, "On the very day of his departure, some of
John's friends set fire to the church," and then he adds, "The
severities inflicted on John's friends, even to the extent of capital
punishment, on account of this act of incendiarism, by Optatus, the
prefect of Constantinople, who being a pagan was, as such, an enemy to
the Christians, I ought, I believe, to pass by in silence." There can be
no doubt that the fire was purely accidental, and that it was used as a
means of endeavouring to excite the people of Constantinople against
their favourite Chrysostom, that bold champion of the truth against
spiritual wickedness in high places, and the Erastianism of a large
party of bishops and clergy, just as before Nero had charged the burning
of old Rome on the Christians.
On this false charge some of the most faithful and zealous adherents of
Chrysostom suffered, amongst them were the priest Tigris, and the reader
Eutropius. The rest shall be quoted from Sozomen, who, belonging to the
party of Chrysostom, gives those details which Socrates found it
convenient to omit:--"Both parties mutually accused each other of
incendiarism; the enemies of John asserted that his partizans had been
guilty of the deed from revenge; the other side, that the crime had been
perpetrated by their enemies, with intention of burning them in the
church. Those citizens who were suspected of attachment to John, were
sought out and cast into prison, and compelled to anathematize him.
Arsacius was not long after ordained over the Church of Constantinople.
Nothing operated so much against him as the persecution carried on
against the followers of John. As these latter refused to hold
communion, or even to join in prayer with him, and met together in the
further parts of the city, he complained to the Emperor of their
conduct. The tribune was commanded to attack them with a body of
soldiers, and by means of clubs and stones he soon dispersed their
assembly. The most distinguished among them in point of rank, and those
who were most zealous in their adherence to John, were cast into prison.
The soldiers, as is usual on such occasions, went beyond their orders,
and stripped the women of their ornaments. Although the whole city was
thus filled with trouble and lamentation, the affection of the people
for John remained the same. After the popular insurrection had been
quelled, the prefect of the city appeared in public, as if to inquire
into the cause of the conflagration, and to bring the perpetrators of
the deed to punishment; but, being a pagan, he exulted in the
destruction of the Church, and ridiculed the calamity.
"Eutropius, a reader, was required to name the persons who had set fire
to the church; but, although he was scourged severely, although his
sides and cheeks were torn with iron nails, and although lighted torches
were applied to the most sensitive parts of his body, no confession
could be extorted from him, notwithstanding his youth and delicacy of
constitution. After having been subjected to these tortures, he was cast
into a dungeon, where he soon afterwards expired.
"A dream of Sisinius concerning Eutropius seems worthy of insertion in
this history. Sisinius, the Bishop of the Novatians, saw in his sleep a
man, tall in stature, and handsome in person, standing near the altar in
the Novatian Church of S. Stephen. This man complained of the rarity of
goodness among men, and said that he had been searching throughout the
city, and found but one who was good, and that one was Eutropius.
Astonished at what he had seen, Sisinius made known the dream to the
most faithful of his priests, and commanded him to make search for
Eutropius, wherever he might be. The priest, rightly conjecturing that
this Eutropius could be no other than he who had been so barbarously
tortured by the prefect, went from prison to prison in quest of him. At
length he found him, and made known to him the dream of the Bishop, and
besought him with tears to pray for him. Such are the details we possess
concerning Eutropius.
"Tigris, a priest, was about the same time stripped of his clothes,
scourged on the back, bound hand and foot, and stretched on the rack. He
was a foreigner, and an eunuch, but not by birth. He was originally a
slave in the house of a man of rank, and on account of his faithful
services had obtained his freedom. He was afterwards ordained priest,
and was distinguished by his moderation and meekness of disposition, and
by his charity towards strangers and the poor. Such were the events
which took place in Constantinople. Those who were in power at court
procured a law in favour of Arsacius, by which it was enacted that the
orthodox were to assemble together in churches only, and that if they
seceded from communion with the above-mentioned Bishop, they were to be
exiled."