Disfigurement and Deliverance: Eusebian Portrayals of Martyrdom and the Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne

Abstract:

This study examines Eusebius’s physical portrayals of martyrs, situating them within his moral and rhetorical agenda in his Ecclesiastical History. To bring the contours of his discourse into greater relief, I first compare Eusebius’s martyr portrayals with those of the Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne (one of the longest ostensibly non-Eusebian martyr narratives in the History). After noting several minor differences between the descriptions in Eusebius’s martyr stories and those populating the Letter, I highlight one significant discursive disparity: namely, the physiognomic and sartorial details in the Letter tend to emphasize the martyrs’ divine physical restoration and glorification during their ordeals, while Eusebian martyr stories place greater emphasis on the martyrs’ gruesome disfigurement. Having made a case for the Letter’s distinct deployment of physical details—further suggesting its authorial independence from Eusebius—the remainder of the article focuses on one particular historiographic and pedagogical aim to which Eusebius deploys these grisly martyrological images: amplifying the irrationality and cruelty of persecuting imperial leaders. From the early books of the History, Eusebius frequently catalogues imperial leaders as either pious respecters of the Christians, in step with traditional Roman mores, or impious persecutors, exemplifying their irrationality and lack of imperial virtue. The mangled bodies of the martyrs adorn Eusebius’s History, I argue, at least in part as gruesome monuments to immoral, barbaric leaders. These evil exempla, in turn, provide both an effective foil for the virtuous leadership of Christian-favoring leaders and a stern moral warning for future leaders. At various points in this article, I also bring Eusebius’s earlier narrative, Martyrs of Palestine, into the conversation to demonstrate further the relative stability of Eusebius’s physiognomic portrayals of martyrs.