Christian Formulas in Old English Literature:Næs Hyre Wlite Gewemmedand its Implications

Abstract

The heroes of God scorn apostasy. Bound and thrust into an insanely fired furnace, its flames jetting nine and forty cubits above the oven itself, they stand unconcerned in the midst of it, their bonds wondrously burned away. And the flames do not touch them; rather, the fire bursts out the sides to incinerate the torturers who stoke it. Then an angel of the Lord enters the furnace and thrusts the fire from the saints, who feel the pleasant refreshment of a dewy breeze. In the middle of the fire they stand and praise God. Astonished, their persecutor beholds the trio with the fourth who has joined them, who is like unto the Son of God, and calls the three forth from the midst of the fire. He, too, acknowledges and praises God when he and his court see, no longer through the confusing shimmer of heat, but with indisputable clarity, right before their eyes, the converting proof: no power had the fire over the saints' bodies, and not a hair of their heads had been singed, and neither had their garments been affected.