Les martyrs

Armenia has been conquered by the Romans, and they have decreed that Christianity, which has a significant following in the country, must be destroyed and its followers put to death. Pauline had been in love with the Roman general, Sévère, but had married Polyeucte after pressure from her father, Félix, who told her that Sévère had been killed in battle. The Catacombs A secret gathering of Christian worshipers assembles, ready to be baptised into the new faith. Chorus of Christians:O voûte obscure, ô voûte obscure / "O dark vault, o immense vault, tombs where peace reigns". As they are about to go into the catacombs, Polyeucte, the principal magistrate of Mytilene, is approached by his friend Néarque, the Christian leader, who questions him on his faith: "New Christian, has the God whose law we follow put faith and bravery in your heart?", he asks, continuing to pursue Polyeucte's feelings about how he would reconcile his wife's beliefs with his own. Polyeucte assures him that when his wife was deathly ill, his local gods were deaf to his pleas, but the Christian God provided a signal by means of a clap of thunder and His voice saying "I am waiting for you". Aria: Que l'onde salutaire, s'épanche sur mon front! Et les maux de la terre, pour moi disparaîtront! / "Let the water of salvation / Flow over my brow / And the evils of the earth / For me will disappear!" Néarque pleads for heaven and the angels to receive his friend and the two men enter the catacombs. As they leave, a…

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