Lives and Martyrdoms of the Saints, Volume 1

Some of the holy martyrs they flayed from the head to the chest; others they pierced with reeds until they died. Still others they bound by their hands and feet, anointed with fat, and cast into deep pits. They threw in many mice and weasels, carefully measuring the depth of the pit so that the sufferers could not escape. Gnawed by hunger, the animals would eat the flesh of the saints. By doing this, the lawless ones were unable to terrify the blessed witnesses of Christ. On the contrary, when they saw such endurance of torture, the saints would run to their death with voluntary readiness and great desire, and by giving thanks to God, they would complete their course.

One of the great princes of the Persians, a very wealthy man and a Christian by faith, whose name was Hormizd, was reported to the king as being a Christian. The king called him and commanded him not to call himself a Christian, but to deny Christ. Hormizd said to the king, "O King, if any of your servants denies you, who are a mortal, and rebels to go to a king of another nation, he is worthy of great torture and death. How much more worthy of punishment is one who denies the God of heaven and earth, the immortal King of eternity, and is handed over to unquenchable fire?"

Hearing this, the king stripped him of his position of honor, cast him out of his house and possessions, and ordered him to be stripped of his robes to graze the camels. After many days, the king saw him naked and exhausted following the camels. He sent him a tunic and said, "Remember your former noble greatness, your softness, and your sweet life. Deny Christianity and believe in our worship." Hearing the king's death-breathing words, he took the tunic and tore it into many pieces. The king, enraged with fury at...