apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

68 EPISTLES OF S. IGNATIUS.
the same, the day after Lysinas the judge of the country had heard
Sharbil the high-priest' [Barsamya
is accused of perverting Sharbil and
is ordered to be tortured].
'And at that moment letters came to him from Alusis [Lusius]
the
chief proconsul, father of emperors. And he gave command, and they
took down Barsamya, and he was not torn with combs, and they took
him outside the judgment hall'...
'And it was found that the emperors had written by the hands of
the proconsuls to the judges of the countries'';
Since our Majesty gave orders that there should be a pcrsectition
^
against the Christians, we have heard and learned from our Sharirs
ivhich 7m have ifi the countries of the dotninion of our Majesty, that the
people of the Christians are men who avoid murder aid sorcery and
ivhich even
adultery and theft and bribery and fraud, and those things for
the laws of our Majesty require p2inishfnent from such as do thefn ; we
therefore by the justice of our Rectitude have given commajid that on account
of these things the persecutioti of the sword should cease from them, and
that their shall be rest and quietness in all our doininions, they continuing
to nmiister accoi'dirig to their custom, and that no man should hiiider them.
But it is not that we show affection towards them, but towards their laws
which agree with the laws of our Majesty ;
and, if any man hinder them
after this our decree, that sword 7vhich is ordered by us to pass upon those
who neglect our decree, the same have we ordered to pass upon those
7vho slight this decree of our Clemency.^
[Accordingly Barsamya is released ;
and Lysinas
is dismissed from
his office.]
*
But I Zenophilus and Patrophilus are the notaries who wrote these
things, Diodorus and Euterpes, Sharirs of the city, bearing witness with
us by setting to their hand, as the ancient laws of the ancient kings
prescribe.'
'
But this Barsamya, the bishop of Edessa, who converted Sharbil
the high-priest of the same city, lived in the days of Fabianus the
bishop of the city of Rome. And the hand of priesthood was received
by this same Barsamya from Abshelama who was bishop in Edessa; and
Abshelama, the hand was received by him from Palut the former ;
and
Palut, the hand was received by him from Serapion bishop of Antioch ;
and Serapion, the hand was received by him from Zephyrinus bishop of
Rome ;
and Zephyrinus of Rome received the hand from Victor,' etc.
[So the succession of the bishops
Lord through Simon Peter.]
of Rome is traced back to our