Library › St Gregory of Tours › History of the Franks

History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 2, 3. Of Cyrola, Bishop of the Heretics, and of the Holy Martyrs

Cyrola, falsely styled bishop, was then held to be the foremost champion of the heretics. When the king sent in all directions to pursue the Christians, this persecutor discovered in a suburb of his city the holy bishop Eugenius, a man of sanctity beyond compare, and reputed for his great wisdom. Yet he carried him off with such violent haste that he would not even grant him leave first to exhort his Christian flock. Eugenius, seeing that he was to be taken away from them, sent to the citizens the following letter, bidding them hold fast to the Catholic faith: ‘The bishop Eugenius to the sons and daughters of the church committed to his charge by God, cherished and most dear to him in the love of Christ. The royal will is made known, and by an edict I am bidden go to Carthage because I have preserved the Catholic faith. Therefore, that through my departure from your midst I might not leave the Church of God in a state of doubting and suspense, or, like a false shepherd, abandon my sheep without a word, I have deemed it needful to send this letter to speak for me to you, holy children of God, wherein, not without tears, I beseech, I exhort, I warn and to the uttermost adjure you by the majesty of God, by the tremendous day of Judgement, by the awful light of Christ’s second coming, that you hold ever faster the Catholic faith, proclaiming that the Son is equal to the Father, and the Holy Spirit of the same godhead as the Father and the Son. Guard therefore the grace of one baptism, preserving the anointing with the holy chrism. Let no man after the water of baptism return to that water, having been once reborn of water. For, if God will, salt is made from water; but if it be again put therein, forthwith its whole nature is dissolved. Wherefore not without reason doth our Lord say in the Gospel: “If the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?”¹ And this is indeed to lose the savour, to be steeped a second time, when the first sufficeth. Have ye not heard the word of Christ: “He that is washed once needeth not to be washed again”?² Therefore, my brethren, my sons and daughters in the Lord, let not my absence grieve you; for if ye cleave to the Catholic doctrine, I shall not forget you however far removed from you, nor shall death itself tear us asunder. Know that how far soever these trials may bear me from you, the palm of victory shall be mine. If I go into exile, I have the blessed John the Evangelist as my exemplar; if I go to death, “to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”.³ If I return, God, my brethren, shall fulfil your desire. But now I have said enough on this matter, as to which I have not hidden my thoughts from you. I have warned, I have taught you to the best of my power. Therefore am I innocent of their blood who perish, and I know that before the judgement-seat of Christ this letter shall be read against them, when the time cometh for every man to be requited according to his works. If I come again, brethren, I shall see you in this world; if I come not, then in the next. However that may befall, I say to you, farewell: pray for me, and fast, since prayer and alms-giving have ever turned the Lord to mercy. Remember that which is written in the Gospel: “Fear not them which kill the body, for the soul they cannot slay; but fear Him who, after He hath slain the body, hath power to destroy both soul and body, and to send them into hell.” ’⁴

And so the holy Eugenius was led before the king, and disputed with the bishop of the Arians in defence of the Catholic faith. But when he had vanquished him with most puissant argument concerning the mystery of the Trinity, and in addition Christ had wrought through him many miracles, that bishop, filled with inflaming envy, was kindled to yet greater frenzy. With the holy Eugenius at that time were the bishops Vindemialis and Longinus, two men of exceeding wisdom and holiness, his equals in rank and not unequal in the power of miracle; for the holy Vindemialis was at that time said to have raised one from the dead, while Longinus had restored to health many that were sick. Eugenius himself had power to dispel the blindness not of the physical eye alone, but also of the mind. Which when that worthless Arian bishop perceived, he called to him a certain man deceived by the same error as himself, and said: ‘I brook it not that these bishops show forth so many miracles before the people, for which cause all men neglect me to follow them. Agree now to do what I bid thee. Here are fifty pieces of gold; go and sit thee down in the street through which we are to pass. Then, placing thy hands over thy closed eyes, cry aloud with all thy might as I pass with the rest: “Thee I entreat, most blessed Cyrola, bishop of our faith, to look upon me and make plain thy glory and thy power, that my eyes may be opened and I may behold the light which I have lost.” ’ The man did as he was enjoined, and seated himself in the street. And when the heretic came by in company with the saints of God he cried out with all his might thinking to mock God, and saying: ‘Hear me, most blessed Cyrola, hearken to me, holy priest of God; look upon my blindness. Let me prove the healing power of which other blind men have often profited, which the leprous have proven, which even the dead themselves have felt. I adjure thee by that same power of thine restore me my lost sight, for I am smitten with grievous blindness.’ But without suspecting the truth he spoke truly. For his covetousness had made him blind in very deed, because he thought to mock the power of Almighty God for money. Then the bishop of the heretics turned a little, as if sure of triumph by the miraculous power that was in him; and elated with vanity and pride, placed his hand over the man’s eyes, saying: ‘By that faith of ours whereby we believe after the right way in God, be thine eyes opened.’ But hardly had these impious words left his lips, the laughter was turned into lamentation, and the bishop’s trick publicly betrayed. For so great an anguish entered into the eyes of that miserable man that he pressed his fingers hard upon them to prevent their bursting. And the wretch began to make outcry, and say: ‘Woe unto me, miserable man that I am, in that I was led astray by the enemy of the divine law. Woe to me that I was fain to mock God for a bribe and received fifty pieces of gold to commit this wickedness.’ And to the bishop he said: ‘Take back thy gold; restore me now my sight which I have lost by thy deceits. And ye too, most glorious followers of Christ, despise not my misery but succour me speedily, for I perish. For verily now I have learned that God is not mocked.’ Then replied the saints of God, moved to compassion: ‘Thou believest; all things are possible to them that believe.’⁵ But he cried with a loud voice: ‘Whosoever believeth not that Christ, the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost are of equal substance and deity with God the Father, let him suffer that which I endure this day.’ And he said also: ‘I believe in God the Father Almighty, I believe that Christ Jesus the Son of God is equal to the Father, I believe that the Holy Ghost is consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son.’ When they heard this, each of them wished to yield the honour to the other, and a holy strife arose between them, which of them should trace the sign of the blessed Cross upon the man’s eyes. Vindemialis and Longinus besought Eugenius; he in his turn besought them to lay their hands on the blind man. When they had done as he wished, and laid their hands upon the man’s head, the holy Eugenius made the sign of the Cross upon his eyes, saying: ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, very God, whom we confess in three Persons equal among themselves and omnipotent, be thine eyes opened.’ And immediately the pain left him, and he was restored to the health which he enjoyed before. But by the blinding of this man it was made very manifest how the bishop of the heretics covered the eyes of men’s hearts with the miserable veil of his doctrine, so that none might be suffered to see the true light with the eyes of faith. Wretched man, who entered not by the gate, that is, by Christ, the true gate, and made himself a wolf rather than a guardian to the flock; who strove by the wickedness of his own heart to put out the torch of faith which it was his duty to kindle in the hearts of believers. But the holy men of God performed many other miracles among the peoples, and all repeated with one voice: ‘The Father is true God, the Son is true God, the Holy Ghost is true God, each to be worshipped in one faith, feared with one fear and venerated with the self-same honour; for it is made plain to all men that the doctrine of Cyrola is false.’

But when King Huneric saw his pretensions in such wise exposed by the glorious faith of the saints, that the sect of error was not lifted up, but rather destroyed, and that the ill repute of his bishop was laid bare by this misdeed, he first subjected the holy men of God to many torments, the horse, the flames, the pincers, then he commanded that they should be put to death. Eugenius he ordered to be beheaded; but with the injunction that if at the moment when the sword was suspended above his neck he still refused to join the heretical sect, he should be spared, and only condemned to exile, for fear lest the Christians might venerate him as a martyr. And as is well known, it so befell. For when death was imminent before him, and they asked him if it was his resolve to die for the Catholic faith, he answered: ‘Yea, for to die for the true cause is eternal life.’ Thereupon the sword was not suffered to fall, and Eugenius was banished to Albi, a city of Gaul, where he ended this mortal life, and at his tomb many miracles are constantly performed at this day. But the king commanded that the holy Vindemialis should be slain with the sword, and the sentence was carried out. In this warfare the archdeacon Octavianus and many thousands of men and women professing our faith were killed or broken by torture. But it was as nothing to the holy confessors to be punished for the love of glory, for though vexed in a few things they knew that in many things they should be well entreated, according to the saying of the apostle: ‘The sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory which is revealed among the saints.’⁶ At this time also many strayed from the faith for the sake of riches, and were beset by many sufferings, like that unhappy bishop Revocatus, who at this time revoked the Catholic faith. Then, too, thrice did the sun appear dark, so that scarce a third part shone bright, I think because of all these crimes and the shedding of innocent blood. But Huneric, after his great wickedness, was seized by the evil spirit, and he who had long battened on the blood of the saints now rent himself with his own teeth; in which torment he ended his unworthy life by a just death. He was succeeded by Childeric, on whose death Gelesimir obtained the throne. This king was vanquished by the empire, and ended his life and reign together. So the kingdom of the Vandals fell.

Previous · Contents · Next