The trial of St Colluthus ca. 304 AD – a literal transcription of the court proceedings

St Colluthus was tried and executed in the Great Persecution ordered by the emperor Diocletian, in May 304. Unusually we have a near-exact transcript of his appearance before the Roman provincial governor. This was Satyrus Arianus, whose activity against the church is recorded in a number of papyri. The opening and closing paragraphs are clearly later additions, perhaps rubrics. Unlike the dreary fictional martyrdoms, in which the saint is insolent, gives long speeches full of bible quotes, miracles take place, and the prosecutor is a pantomime villain, this account shows the banal reality of such persecutions. A superficially genial prosecutor tries to break down the resistance of the victim with a mixture of fake reasonableness, social pressure, gas-lighting and victim-blaming. The tactic was doubtless used many times before on men of some social class – Colluthus was a physician – and probably effectively. In response the saint wisely says as little as possible. The translation…