Martyrs Terence, Pompeius, Africanus, Maximus, Zeno, Alexander, Theodore and Thirty-three Others (III)
The holy Martyrs Terence, Pompeius, Africanus, Maximus, Zeno, Alexander, Theodore and thirty-three others (III) met their end for Christ in the time of the Emperor Decius (249–251). The emperor issued a decree that all the subjects of the empire must offer sacrifice to the idols. When Fortunatian, the governor of Africa, received this decree, he gathered the people in the square, displayed terrible instruments of torture to frighten them, and demanded that everyone without exception perform the rite of sacrifice. For fear of torture many carried out the lawless governor’s order, but Saint Terence, with forty Christians, fearlessly declared his faithfulness to Christ. Fortunatian was amazed at their courage and asked them: how can you, intelligent people, take for God one whom the Jews crucified like a robber?! Saint Terence answered that they believed in the Saviour, crucified for the sins of men and risen from the dead on the third day. Fortunatian understood that Terence by his example was encouraging the other Christians and calling them to firmness, and ordered him to be thrown into prison with his three closest friends, Africanus, Maximus and Pompeius. The other confessors, among them Zeno, Alexander and Theodore, he tried to force to renounce their faith. No promises and no torture availed: the saints held firmly to their faith, and the Lord strengthened them.
Fortunatian ordered the martyrs to be brought to the temple once more and once more demanded that they offer sacrifice to the idols. The saints cried out to God: “O Lord almighty, who didst rain fire on Sodom for its lawlessness, overthrow this unclean temple for the sake of Thy truth!” The idols fell down and were shattered, and then the temple too collapsed. The enraged governor ordered the saints to be put to death.
After thirty-six martyrs had been killed, Fortunatian summoned Terence, Maximus, Africanus and Pompeius, showed them the bodies of the slain, and again ordered them to sacrifice. The saints refused. Then the governor put them in chains and shut them in prison, so that they would starve to death. At night an angel of the Lord loosed the martyrs’ chains and fed them. In the morning the guards saw the prisoners cheerful and full of strength. Fortunatian ordered the sorcerers to fill the cell with snakes and every kind of filth, but the guards saw that the reptiles crawled at the feet of the praying saints and did them no harm.
At last, by order of the enraged Fortunatian, the holy martyrs were beheaded. The Christians buried the saints’ remains with honour outside the city.
