But concerning the persecution that raged most fiercely in his day, what the same Dionysius, together with others, underwent for his piety toward the God of all, his own words will make plain—words which, directing himself against Germanus, one of the bishops of his day who was attempting to speak ill of him, he sets forth in this manner.
“I am in danger of falling, in truth, into great folly and stupidity, being driven by necessity to recount the wonderful dispensation of God concerning us. But since, he says, ‘it is good to keep close the secret of a king, but glorious to reveal the works of God,’ I will close with the violence of Germanus.
I came before Aemilianus, not alone; for there followed me my fellow-presbyter Maximus, and the deacons Faustus and Eusebius and Chaeremon; and one of the brethren who were present from Rome went in along with us.
And Aemilianus did not at the outset say to me, ‘Do not hold assemblies.’ For that would have been superfluous for him, and the last point for one who was running back to the first. For his discourse was not about not gathering others, but about our not being Christians ourselves; and from this he commanded me to cease, thinking that if I myself were to change, the others also would follow me.
But I gave an answer not inappropriate nor far from the truth: ‘We must obey God rather than men’; and I testified outright that I worship the only true God and no other, nor would I ever change or cease to be a Christian. Thereupon he bade us depart to a village near the desert called Cephro.
But hear the very things that were said by both parties, as they were placed on record. When Dionysius and Faustus and Maximus and Marcellus and Chaeremon had been brought in, Aemilianus, who administered the governorship, said: ‘I have also discoursed with you verbally concerning the kindness which our lords have shown toward you;
for they have granted you the opportunity of safety, if ye are willing to turn to that which is according to nature and to worship the gods who preserve their empire, and to forget those that are contrary to nature. What, then, say ye to these things? For I do not expect that ye will be ungrateful for their kindness, seeing that they are urging you toward what is better.’
Dionysius answered: ‘Not all men worship all gods, but each worships certain ones whom they hold to be gods. We, therefore, worship and adore the one God, the Maker of all things, who also committed the empire into the hands of the most God-beloved Augusti, Valerian and Gallienus; and to Him we pray continually for their empire, that it may remain unshaken.’
Aemilianus, who administered the governorship, said to them: ‘But who hinders you from worshipping this one also—if indeed he is a god—together with the gods that are according to nature? For ye were commanded to worship gods, and gods whom all men know.’ Dionysius answered: ‘We worship no other.’
Aemilianus, who administered the governorship, said to them: ‘I see that ye are at once ungrateful and insensible to the clemency of our Augusti. Wherefore ye shall not be in this city, but shall be sent away to the parts of Libya, to a place called Cephro; for this place I have chosen by command of our Augusti. And it shall in no wise be permitted, either to you or to any others, to hold assemblies or to enter into the so-called cemeteries.
And if anyone shall be seen either not having gone to that place which I commanded, or found in any assembly, he will bring the peril upon himself; for the needful watchfulness shall not be wanting. Depart, then, where ye have been commanded.’ And he hastened me away, though I was sick, granting me not the postponement of a single day. What leisure, then, had I any longer to hold or not to hold assemblies?” Then, after other remarks, he says:
“But we did not withdraw even from the visible assembling with the Lord; rather, those in the city I gathered together the more diligently, as if present—absent indeed in body, so to speak, but present in spirit; and at Cephro a large church also sojourned with us, some of the brethren from the city following us, and others being present from Egypt.
And there God opened to us a door for the word. And at first we were persecuted and stoned; but afterward not a few of the gentiles, forsaking the idols, turned to God. For the word was then for the first time sown by us among those who had not before received it.
And as though for this very purpose God had led us away to them, when we had fulfilled this ministry He led us away again. For Aemilianus wished to remove us to rougher places, as it seemed, and more like Libya, and commanded all to flow together into the Mareotis, assigning villages to each throughout the country; but he ordered us to be stationed rather upon the road, and to be the first to be apprehended. For he was plainly managing and preparing things, so that whenever he wished to seize us, he might have all easy to catch.
Now when I had been commanded to depart to Cephro, I knew not where in the world that place was, having scarcely even heard the name before; and yet I went off cheerfully and without disturbance. But when it was announced to me that I was to remove to the parts of Colluthion, those who were present know how I was affected; for here I will accuse myself.
At first I was vexed and exceedingly displeased; for although the places happened to be better known and more familiar to us, yet they said the region was bare of brethren and earnest men, and beset by the molestations of travellers and the raids of robbers.
But I found consolation when the brethren reminded me that it was nearer the city; and whereas Cephro brought us much intercourse with the brethren from Egypt, so that we could hold larger assemblies, yet there, the city being nearer, we should more frequently enjoy the sight of those who were truly beloved and most dear and most intimate. For they would come and rest, and, as in suburbs lying farther off, there would be assemblies in parts. And so it came to pass.
And after other remarks, concerning the things that had befallen him, he again writes thus: “With many confessions indeed does Germanus pride himself. He can tell of many things that have happened against himself—as many as he can number of sentences passed against us, confiscations, proscriptions, plunderings of goods, losses of dignities, contempt of worldly glory, disdain of the praises of governors and councillors, and endurance of the threats and outcries and dangers and persecutions and wandering and distress and manifold affliction of the adversaries—such as befell me under Decius and Sabinus, such as befall me even now under Aemilianus.
But where is Germanus? And what account is there concerning him? But I forbear from the great folly into which I am falling on account of Germanus; wherefore I also leave the narration of each thing that happened to be told by the brethren who know it.”
The same writer, in his letter to Domitius and Didymus, again mentions the matters concerning the persecution in these words: “But to enumerate our people by name—they being many and unknown to you—were superfluous; only know that men and women, both young and old, both maidens and aged women, both soldiers and private persons, of every race and every age, some by scourgings and fire, others by the sword, conquered in the contest and received their crowns.
But for some, the time that elapsed has not yet been sufficient to make them appear acceptable to the Lord, as it seems is the case with me even until now. Wherefore He who says, ‘In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in a day of salvation I have helped thee,’ has deferred me unto whatever time He himself knows to be fitting.
For as for our affairs, since ye inquire and wish it made known to you how we fare—ye have surely heard how, as we were being led away as prisoners by a centurion and magistrates and the soldiers and attendants with them—myself and Gaius and Faustus and Peter and Paul—certain of the Mareotae came upon us, and against our will, when we were not even following them, by force dragging us, snatched us away.
But now I and Gaius and Peter, bereft of the rest of the brethren, are shut up alone in a desert and parched place of Libya, three days’ journey distant from Paraetonium.”
And going on a little farther he says: “But in the city there have hidden themselves, secretly visiting the brethren—of the presbyters, Maximus, Dioscorus, Demetrius, Lucius; for those more conspicuous in the world, Faustinus and Aquila, are wandering in Egypt; and of the deacons, those who survived after the ones who died in the sickness—Faustus, Eusebius, Chaeremon; that Eusebius whom from the beginning God had prepared and strengthened to fulfil zealously the services to the confessors in the prisons, and to discharge, not without danger, the laying out of the bodies of the perfected and blessed martyrs.
For even until now the governor does not cease cruelly putting to death, as I said before, some of those who are brought before him, tearing others with tortures, and wasting others away in prisons and bonds, commanding that none approach them, and searching out lest any be seen. And nevertheless God, by the eagerness and persistence of the brethren, gives respite to those who are hard pressed.” So much, then, said Dionysius.
But it should be known that Eusebius, whom he called a deacon, was a little later appointed bishop of the church of Laodicea in Syria; and Maximus, whom he then called a presbyter, succeeded Dionysius in the ministry of the brethren at Alexandria; while Faustus, who had at that time been distinguished together with him in the confession, being preserved until the persecution of our own day, in extreme old age and full of days, was perfected in our very time by martyrdom, having his head cut off. But such were the things that befell Dionysius at that time.