The Holy Martyr Terentius and His Troops

A group of forty followers of Christian teaching lost their lives in African lands after the Edict of Decius. The local viceroy Fortunatian, announcing the will of Rome, gathered the inhabitants in the city and put before them tools for intimidation. The main requirement was the public worship of statues of deities.

Many fear broke, but four dozen people under the command of Terentius responded with a resolute disagreement. The governor marveled at the audacity of the convicts and asked how sane citizens could call the God of the Crucified. Terentius explained that the essence of their hope is the free death of Christ and His three-day resurrection.

Realizing who was the ideological core, Fortunatian isolated the instigator. Three of his closest comrades, Africanus, Pompius and Maximus, were sent to the prison. The remaining thirty-six prisoners were prepared for a series of tortures. Bodies were scorched with hot iron, fresh burns were poured with acid, sprinkled with caustic salt, shredded with metal blades. The will of the martyrs was never broken.

Desperate to achieve change, the viceroy sent the sufferers to the temple so that they would come to their senses. They prayed to the heavens to be destroyed. Immediately, the images were thrown from their places and crumbled to dust, followed by the collapse of the walls of the entire structure. The fury of the official turned into a death sentence for thirty-six convicts – they were demolished.

The four survivors were brought back to the square to the decapitated bodies, offering one last chance to retreat. The answer was a categorical rejection. They were put on massive shackles and locked up without food. At night, according to eyewitnesses, the constipation slept, and the forces returned to the prisoners miraculously. In the morning, the astonished guards reported this to Fortunatian. He resorted to another method: poisonous bastards were launched into the basement, summoning charmers. When the doors were opened, the reptiles ignored the worshippers and rushed to the casters themselves. Terentius, Africanus, Pompius and Maximus were executed by beheading with the sword. The bodies of all forty Christians were taken out by the faithful and interred outside the city gates.