APOLLONIUS, Asia, 31st March,185 A.D.

  "It is life that I love"!

"The decree of man does not prevail over the decree of God", Apollonius boldly proclaimed to the Roman official who had just sentenced him to death. "The more you kill these innocent faitful, mocking justice and the laws, the more God will increase their number. We do not believe that it is hard to die for the true God. Everything that we are, we owe to Him, and we are ready to suffer anything to escape an end without honour. In life as in death we belong to Lord".

Perennis, the proconsul of Asia, then asked the Christian, "With such ideas, Apollonius, does death give you pleasure?"

"It is life that I love, Perennis, but this love does not make me fear death. For the life which I prefer to all else is eternal life, which awaits those who have lived faithfully in this world. I give my thands to God with all those who confess the omnipotent God and Jesus Christ, His only Son, and the Holy Spirit, for the sentence you have just given and which grings me eternal life".

The proconsul was greatly moved by the words and conviction of Apollonius, but he chose his position and wealth over conversion. To show mercy, though, he condemned Apollonius to beheading rather than the normal tortures and slow deaths generally reserved for Christians.

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