De sancto Crisogono
A Correspondence of Faith
Saint Anastasia writes to her imprisoned teacher Chrysogonus regarding her suffering, and he encourages her to view her trials as a divine test.
At Diocletian's command, Chrysogonus was locked in prison, where he was sustained by the provisions of Saint Anastasia. When her husband had placed Anastasia in the strictest confinement, she sent this letter to Chrysogonus, who had been her teacher. To the holy confessor of Christ, Chrysogonus, from Anastasia. I have taken on the yoke of a sacrilegious husband, but by God’s mercy, I have avoided his bed by feigning illness, and day and night I embrace the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ. Since he is squandering my inheritance—the very thing that gives me status—with indignation and on shameful idolaters, he has also branded me a sorceress and a sacrilegious woman, and has committed me to such harsh custody that I suspect I will lose my temporal life. Nothing remains, then, but for me to lose my spirit and succumb to death. Though I may glory in this death, my mind is deeply crushed because the wealth I had vowed to God is being consumed by the wicked. Farewell, man of God, and remember me. Chrysogonus answered her: 'Do not be troubled that you face adversity while living piously; you are not being deceived, but tested. Soon Christ will turn the time to your favor, and just as you see the bright light of God after the darkness of night, so after the cold of ice, golden and serene times will follow for you.'
The Hope of the Faithful
As her imprisonment intensifies, Anastasia receives further spiritual counsel from Chrysogonus on the nature of worldly adversity before he is summoned by Diocletian.
Goodbye in the Lord, and pray for me. Eventually, when blessed Anastasia was confined so tightly in prison that she was barely given a quarter-loaf of bread, and she thought she was going to die, she wrote to the holy man. She wrote a letter to Chrysogonus that said: 'To the holy confessor of Christ, Chrysogonus, from Anastasia.' The end of my body has come, so that He for whose love I endure these things—which you will recognize from the words of this old woman—may receive my soul as it departs. He wrote back to her: 'It remains that darkness must precede light; so too, after sickness, health returns, and life is promised after death.' Both the adversities and the prosperities of this world end the same way, so that neither despair may rule in sadness nor arrogance in joy. It is one sea in which the little boats of our bodies sail, and under one governor of the body, our souls perform the sailor's duty. Therefore, the ships of some, strengthened by the strongest chains, pass through the frequent, agitated waves of the sea unharmed, while the fragile joints of others' ships complete their course near to death even in calm waters; but you, O handmaid of Christ, hold fast to the trophy of the cross with your whole mind and prepare yourself for the work of God. So Diocletian, stationed in the parts of Aquileia, while killing other Christians, ordered holy Chrysogonus to be brought before him.
The Martyrdom of Chrysogonus
Chrysogonus rejects the worldly honors offered by Diocletian and is subsequently martyred for his faith.
When he told him, "Accept the power of your prefecture and the consulship of your family, and offer sacrifice to the gods," Chrysogonus replied, "I worship one God in the heavens, and I count your dignities as nothing but mud." So, after the sentence was passed against him, he was led to a certain place and immediately beheaded there, around the year of our Lord 287. The holy priest Zoilus buried his body along with his head.
Read the original Latin
Crisogonus jussu Dyocletiani in carcere recluditur, ubi sanctae Anastasiae alimoniis fovebatur. Cum ergo Anastasiam vir ejus in arüissimam custodiam posuisset, Crisogono, qui eam erudierat, talia scripta direxit. Sancto confessori Christi Crisogono Anastasia. Sacrilegi jugum mariti suscepi, cujus Deo miserante torum mentita infirmitate declinans die noctnque domini nostri Jesu Christi amplector vestigia. Cum iste patrimonium menm, ex quo illustratur, cum indignatione ac turpibus ydololatris exhauriat, me quoque velnt magam atque sacrilegam custodiae tam gravissimae mancipavit, ut me vitam temporalem amittere suspicer. Nihil enim superest, nisi ut amisso spiritu morti succumbam. In qua morte licet glorier, tamen mea mens valde conteritur, quia opes meae, quas Deo devoveram, a turpibus consumuntur, Vale, vir Dei, mementoque mei. Cui Crisogonus respondit: vide, quod non conturberis in hoc, quod tibi pie viventi inferantur adversa, non enim deciperis, sed probaris; cilo ad te placitum tempusChristus convertet et quasi post noctis tenebras floridum Dei lumen adspicies el post glaciei frigus aurea tibi tempora ac serena succedent.
Vale in domino et ora pro me, Denique cum beata Anastasia sic in custodia artaretur, ut vix ei panis quadrans daretur, existimans se morituram, sancto. Crisogono epistolam in haec verba scripsit, Confessori Christi Crisogono Anastasia. Finis venit corporis mei, ut egredientem animam ipse suscipiat, pro cujus amore ista sustineo, quae ex ore hnjus vetulae recognoveris. Cui ille rescripsit: superest, ut lnmen tenebrae antecedant: sic etiam post infirmitatem salus revertitur et vita post mortem promittitur. Uno fine concluduntur et adversa hujus mundi et prospera, ne vel tristibus desperatio vel laetis elatio dominetur. Unum mare est, in quo naviculae corporis nostri velificant et sub uno corporis gubernatore animae nostrae nautico funguntur officio. Quorundam igitur naves fortissimis )catenarum nexibus solidatae crebros aequoris concitatos fluctus illaesae praetereunt, quorundam vero fragiles juncturae lignorum etiam in tranquillo vicinum morti conficiunt cursum, Tu autem, o Christi famula, crucis tropaeum tota mente constringe et te ipsam praepara ad opus Dei. Igitur Dyocletianus Aquilejae partibus positus caeteros christianos occidens sanctum Crisogonum sibi praesentari jussit.
Cui cum diceret: accipe potestatem praefectarae tnae et consulatum generis tui et sacrifica Diis, respondit Crisogonus: unum Deum in coelis adoro et dignitates tuas quasi lutum contemno. Data igitur super eum sententia ad quendam locum ducitur et ibidem protinus decollatur cirea annos domini CCLXXXVIL Cujus corpus cum capite sanctus Zelus presbiter sepelivit.
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