Artemius held a vital position in the Roman Empire in the 4th century. He was the “Augustal Prefect” of Egypt. In other words, he was the person appointed directly by the Emperor to ensure that the wheat from conquered Egypt continued to support the greater Roman Empire. Artemius’ job was, in many ways, second only to the Emperor’s in pragmatic importance.
Artemius was nominally a Christian. That is, he lived in a time, post-Constantine, where you couldn’t be high ranking in the Empire if you were not a Christian. And it appears from Butler’s writings that Artemius didn’t much care about the biggest doctrinal dogfight in Christian history–that between the followers of Athanasius and those of Arius; Artemius just wanted to keep the peace. So when Athanasius (ultimately found to be “orthodox, and made a saint) was temporarily out of favor, Artemius took steps to confront him but always found a reason to let him go. And when the Arians (read: those later condemned as heretics) were in the ascendant, Artemius was glad to let them go unimpeded: so long as the wheat kept flowing from Egypt to Rome.
Predominantly, Artemius was a political, not a religious creature. He valued expedience in his job, and he did not commit himself to any side of a theological debate unless or until the matter was “settled” in Rome. So how how how did this man become a saint?!
As Butler sees it, Artemius became a saint because he had the great good fortune to be executed because he stood up against Egyptian idolaters. Yes. He gets “saint cred” because he stood up for Christianity (like he had a choice?!) against those who weren’t Christian and literally lost his head.
Butler sees the hand/grace of God at work in Artemius’ execution! In Butler’s economy, better to lose your head for Christ and spend eternity in heaven, than to keep your head but burn in hell for all time.
The takeaway is not that we should live like “Saint” Artemius, but hope to die like him, and to be grateful for a God who found a way for a weak man, religiously, to still make it to heaven (yes, by being beheaded). In a word: Blecch.