PHILEAS was a rich nobleman of Thmuis[1] in Egypt, very eloquent and
learned. Being converted to the faith, he was chosen bishop of that
city; but was taken and carried prisoner to Alexandria by the
persecutors, under the successors of Dioclesian. Eusebius has preserved
part of a letter which he wrote in his dungeon, and sent to his flock to
comfort and encourage them.[2] Describing the sufferings of his fellow
confessors at Alexandria, he says that every one had full liberty
allowed to insult, strike, and beat them with rods, whips, or clubs.
Some of the confessors, with their hands behind their backs, were tied
to pillars, their bodies stretched out with engines, and their sides,
belly, thighs, legs, and cheeks, hideously torn with iron hooks: others
were hung by one hand, suffering excessive pain by the stretching of
their joints: others hung by both hands, their bodies being drawn down.
The governor thought no treatment too bad for Christians. Some expired
on the racks; others expired soon after they were taken down: others
were laid on their backs in the dungeons, with their legs stretched out
in the wooden stocks to the fourth hole, &c. Culcian, who had been
prefect of Thebais, was then governor of all Egypt, under the tyrant
Maximinus, but afterwards lost his head in 313, by the order of
Licinius. We have a long interrogatory of St. Phileas before him from
the presidial registers. Culcian, after many other things, asked him,
"Was Christ God?" The saint answered, "Yes;" and alleged his miracles as
a proof of his divinity. The governor professed a great regard for his
quality and merit, and said: "If you were in misery, or necessity, you
should be {352} dispatched without more ado; but as you have riches and
estates sufficient not only for yourself and family, but for the
maintenance almost of a whole province, I pity you, and will do all in
my power to save you." The counsellors and lawyers, desirous also of
saving him, said: "He had already sacrificed in the Phrontisterium, (or
academy for the exercises of literature.") Phileas cried out: "I have
not by any immolation; but say barely that I have sacrificed, and you
will say no more than the truth." Having been confined there some time,
he might perhaps have said mass in that place.[3]
His wife, children, brother, and other relations, persons of
distinction, and Pagans, were present at the trial. The governor, hoping
to overcome him by tenderness, said:--"See how sorrowful your wife
stands with her eyes fixed upon you." Phileas replied: "Jesus Christ,
the Saviour of souls, calls me to his glory: and he can also, if he
pleases, call my wife." The counsellors, out of compassion, said to the
judge: "Phileas begs a delay." Culcian said to him: "I grant it you most
willingly, that you may consider what to do." Phileas replied: "I have
considered, and it is my unchangeable resolution to die for Jesus
Christ." Then all the counsellors, the emperor's lieutenant, who was the
first magistrate of the city, all the other officers of justice, and his
relations, fell down together at his feet, embracing his knees, and
conjuring him to have compassion on his disconsolate family, and not to
abandon his children in their tender years, while his presence was
absolutely necessary for them. But he, like a rock unshaken by the
impetuous waves that dash against it, stood unmoved; and raising his
heart to God, protested aloud that he owned no other kindred but the
apostles and martyrs. Philoromus, a noble Christian, was present: he was
a tribune or colonel, and the emperor's treasurer-general in Alexandria,
and had his tribunal in the city, where he sat every day hearing and
judging causes, attended by many officers in great state. Admiring the
prudence and inflexible courage of Phileas, and moved with indignation
against his adversaries, he cried out to them: "Why strive ye to
overcome this brave man, and to make him, by an impious compliance with
men, renounce God? Do not you see that, contemplating the glory of
heaven, he makes no account of earthly things?" This speech drew upon
him the indignation of the whole assembly, who in rage demanded that
both might be condemned to die. To which the judge readily assented.
As they were led out to execution, the brother of Phileas, who was a
judge, said to the governor: "Phileas desires his pardon." Culcian there
fore called him back, and asked him if it was true. He answered: "No;
God forbid. Do not listen to this unhappy man. Far from desiring the
reversion of my sentence, I think myself much obliged to the emperors,
to you, and to your court: for by your means I become coheir with
Christ, and shall enter this very day into the possession of his
kingdom." Hereupon he was remanded to the place of execution, where
having made his prayer aloud, and exhorted the faithful to constancy and
perseverance, he was beheaded with Philoromus. The exact time of their
martyrdom is not known, but it happened between the years 306 and 312.
Their names stand in the ancient martyrologies. See Eusebius, Hist. l.
8, c. 9. St. Hier. in Catal. in Philea; and their original beautiful
acts, published by Combefis, Henschenius, and Ruinart.
Footnotes:
1. Thmuis, capital of the Nomos, or district of Mendes, is called, by
Strata, Mendes: which word in the Egyptian tongue signifies a goat,
Pan being there worshipped with extraordinary superstition under the
figure of a goat. This city was anciently one of the largest and
richest in Egypt, as Amm. Marcellinus (l. 22) testifies; but is now
reduced to the condition of a mean village, and called Themoi, or
rather Them{o}wia. See Le Quien. Oriens Christ. t. 2. p. 53{}.
2. Eus. Hist. l. 8, c. 10, p. 302.
3. See Tillemont and Ceillier.
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