“They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;”
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted (dioko), tormented (kakoucheo) — the horrific litany: stoning (lithazo), sawing (diprizo), sword-death, deprivation, persecution, torment. These words describe not legendary martyrs but historical reality for many faithful ones.
Church Fathers on Hebrews 11:37
At all times indeed, but especially then when I reflect upon the achievements of the saints, it comes over me to feel despondency concerning my own condition, because we have not even in dreams experienced the things among which those men spent their whole lives, not paying the penalty of sins, but always doing rightly and yet always afflicted. For consider, I beseech you, Elijah, to whom our discourse has come round today, for he speaks of him in this passage, and in him…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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