Razis Resists Arrest

Razis was an elder in Jerusalem. He was known as a man who loved his people and had a very good name among them. Earlier, when there was no mingling with Gentiles, he had been accused because of the Jewish religion and had risked his body and life for it.

Nicanor wanted to show his ill will toward the Jews, so he sent more than five hundred soldiers to seize Razis. He thought that capturing this one respected man would also injure the Jewish people.

The troops were close to taking the tower. They forced the court doors and called for fire to burn them. With enemies all around him, Razis fell on his sword, choosing death rather than being taken by men the passage calls wicked and suffering outrage in their hands.

But in the confusion he did not die at once. As people rushed in through the doorway, he ran up onto the wall and threw himself down into the crowd below. They drew back, and he fell badly wounded.

Even then he still had breath. Bleeding heavily, he struggled through the crowd and stood on a steep rock. Near death, he pulled out his own entrails and flung them toward the crowd, calling on the Lord of life and spirit to restore them again. Then he died.