CHAPTER IV

THE NUMBER OF HIS CATECHUMENS THAT SUFFERED MARTYRDOM

OF these, then, the first was that Plutarch, mentioned above, at whose martyrdom, when led away to die, the same Origen of whom we are now speaking, being present with him to the last of his life, was nearly slain by his own countrymen, as if he were the cause of his death. But the providence of God preserved him likewise then. But after Plutarch, the second of Origen’s disciples that was selected, was Severus, who presented, in the fire, a proof of that unshaken faith which he had received. The third that appeared as martyr from the same school, was Heraclides; and the fourth after him, was Heron: both of these were beheaded. Besides these, the fifth of this school that was announced a champion for religion, was another Severus, who, after a long series of tortures, is said to have been beheaded. Of women, also, Herais, who was yet a catechumen, and, as Origen himself expresses it, after receiving her baptism by fire, departed this life.