(A.D. 284.)
[Roman Martyrology, and those of Bede, Ado, &c. But the ancient
Roman Martyrology, bearing the name of S. Jerome, on Feb. 24th. By
the Greeks commemorated on Jan, 31st and April 5th. A mere epitome
of their Acts was all that was known to Bollandus, as contained in
the Menæa and Martyrologies; but Assemani has since recovered the
genuine Acts in Chaldaic.]
Victorinus, Victor, Nicephorus, Claudian, Dioscorus,[69] Serapion, and
Papias, were citizens of Corinth, and had witnessed a good confession
before Tertius, the proconsul, in 249. They then passed into Egypt,
for what reason is not stated, and were again called upon to confess
Christ, in the reign of Numerian, in Diospolis, capital of the
Thebaid, in 284, under Sabinus, the governor. After the governor had
tried the constancy of the martyrs with the rack and scourge, he
caused Victorinus to be thrown into a great marble mortar. The
executioners began by pounding his extremities, saying to him, at
every stroke, "Spare thy life, Victorinus, by abjuring thy new God."
But, as he continued to maintain his steadfastness, by order of
Sabinus they crushed his head and chest. Victor was threatened with
the same death. He pointed to the mortar, stained with the blood and
brains of his companions, and said, calmly, "My salvation and my true
joy await me there!" He was immediately cast into it, and pounded to
death. Nicephorus was impatient of delay, and leaped of his own accord
into the mortar. He met with the same fate. Sabinus caused Claudian,
the fourth, to be chopped to pieces, and his bleeding joints to be
thrown at the feet of the survivors. He expired, after his feet,
hands, arms, legs, and thighs had been cut off. The governor then,
pointing to the mangled limbs and bleeding trunk, said to the three
who remained, "It concerns you to escape this punishment; I do not
compel you to suffer." The martyrs replied, with one accord, "We
desire of thee to bid us suffer by the most excruciating pains thou
canst devise, for never will we break our fidelity to God, and deny
Jesus Christ, our Saviour, for He is our God, from whom we have our
being, and to whom alone we aspire."
The tyrant then condemned Dioscorus to be roasted to death; Serapion
was suspended by his heels and decapitated; and Papias was cast into
the sea with a stone attached to his neck, and drowned.
This happened on Feb. 25th, on which day these martyrs are
commemorated in the Western Martyrologies; but the Greek Menæa and the
Menology of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus honour them on January
31st, the day of their confession at Corinth.