and many angels with Him, where they were looking on,
and took the housel which was there consecrated,
and said to the bishop with blithe aspect,
'My beloved, receive this, and I with my Father
will for thee fulfil these mysteries with perfection,
because with Me there is a great reward to thyself,
and to those who hear (thee) there is salvation in My kingdom.
Now do valiantly, and thy memory shall remain in (men's) praise;
and as for the love and benignity which dwell in thy breast,
for whomsoever they plead, they shall always obtain (their boon).'
And after these words He returned to heaven.
Then soon after, Sisinnius commanded in the morning
the Saints to be fetched out of the foul dungeon,
and ordered (them) to offer their sacrifices to the lifeless gods,
if they recked of their life or were reasonable.
But the Saints continued in the Saviour's faith,
and the infuriated judge desired yet again to try,
if he might, to turn them from God's worship;
he commanded men to scourge them all again severely with rods,
and afterward to behead them for the Saviour's faith.
Then the heathen led the Saints to death,
and Dionysius thanked his Lord with praise
for all the wonders which He had wrought through him;
and they were beheaded, as the savage prefect had ordered,
with sharp axes; and there God manifested
a very great wonder through the illustrious bishop.
For there came a great light to the martyrs' bodies,
and the bishop's body arose with that light,
and took his own head, which was hewn off
upon the hill, and went him forth thence
over two miles, while the men were looking on,
praising his Lord with holy hymns;
