In the year 309, the emperors Galerius Maximianus and Maximinus
continuing the persecution begun by Dioclesian, these five pious
Egyptians went to visit the confessors condemned to the mines in
Cilicia, and on their return were stopped by the guards of the gates of
Caesarea, in Palestine, as they were entering the town. They readily
declared themselves Christians, together with the motive of their
journey; upon which they were apprehended. The day following they were
brought before Firmilian, the governor of Palestine, together with St.
Pamphilus and others. The judge, before {420} he began his
interrogatory, ordered the five Egyptians to be laid on the rack, as was
his custom. After they had long suffered all manner of tortures, he
addressed himself to him who seemed to be their chief, and asked him his
name and his country. They had changed their names, which, perhaps,
before their conversion, were those of some heathen gods, as was
customary in Egypt. The martyr answered, according to the names they had
given themselves, that he was called Elias, and his companions, Jeremy,
Isaias, Samuel, and Daniel. Firmilian then asked their country; he
answered, Jerusalem, meaning the heavenly Jerusalem, the true country of
all Christians. The judge inquired in what part of the world that was,
and ordered him to be tormented with fresh cruelty. All this while the
executioners continued to tear his body with stripes, while his hands
were bound behind him, and his feet squeezed in the woodstocks, called
the Nervus. The judge, at last, tired with tormenting them, condemned
all five to be beheaded, which was immediately executed.
Porphyrius, a youth who was a servant of St. Pamphilus, hearing the
sentence pronounced, cried out, that at least the honor of burial ought
not to be refused them. Firmilian, provoked at this boldness, ordered
him to be apprehended, and finding that he confessed himself a
Christian, and refused to sacrifice, ordered his sides to be torn so
cruelly, that his very bones and bowels were exposed to view. He
underwent all this without a sigh or tear, or so much as making the
least complaint. The tyrant, not to be overcome by so heroic a
constancy, gave orders for a great fire to be kindled, with a vacant
space to be left in the midst of it, for the martyr to be laid in, when
taken off the rack. This was accordingly done, and he lay there a
considerable time, surrounded by the flames, singing the praises of God,
and invoking the name of Jesus; till at length, quite broiled by the
fire, he consummated a slow, but glorious martyrdom.
Seleucus, an eye-witness of this victory, was heard by the soldiers
applauding the martyr's resolution; and being brought before the
governor, he, without more ado, ordered his head to be struck off.