(ABOUT A.D. 304)
[S. Asclas was martyred on Jan. 21st, but his body was found on
Jan. 23rd, and on this latter day he is usually commemorated. His
Acts, in a fragmentary condition, are genuine.]
Asclas, a native of Antinoë, was brought before the Roman governor,
Arrianus, when he visited Hermopolis, in the Thebaid, or Upper Egypt.
After a close interrogation, which is faithfully recorded in the Acts of
this martyr, the Governor exclaimed, "Come, now! sacrifice to the gods,
and consult thy safety. I have various instruments at hand, as thou
seest." "Try, now," said the martyr, boldly. "Try, now, which will
prevail, thou and thy instruments, or I and my Christ." The Governor
ordered him to be swung from the little horse, and his flesh to be torn
off in ribands. This was done. Then Arrianus said sullenly, "I see he is
as obdurate as ever." An orator, standing by, remarked, "The approach
of death has robbed him of his wits." Asclas turned his head, and said,
"No, I am robbed neither of my wits nor of my God."
Now this had taken place on the further side of the river, near Antinoë;
and as there were not sufficient conveniences for continuing the
torture, the Governor said, "We will return to Hermopolis." So he
ordered Asclas into one boat; and when he had been taken over the Nile,
then Arrianus entered his boat, and began to cross. Thereupon Asclas
cried out, "O Lord, for whose sake I have suffered, may Thy name be
glorified now, even by unwilling lips. Retain the vessel in the midst of
the river, till Arrianus confesses Thy power." Then suddenly the boat
stood, as though it had grounded on a sand-bank, and it could not be
moved, till the Governor wrote on a piece of parchment: "The Lord of
Asclas, He is God, and there is none other god save He." And when he had
sent this to the martyr, the boat floated, and was propelled to the
shore. Then the Governor, inflamed with rage, thinking that the captive
had used magical arts, tortured him by applying fire to his sides and
belly, till his body was one great sore. And after that he cast him,
with a stone attached to his neck, into the Nile.