21. Святые мученицы

Sofia, Faith, Hope and Love In the first half of the 2nd century A.D. There lived a Christian widow named Sophia in Rome. Her three daughters bore the names of the three main Christian virtues: Faith, Hope, Love. Being herself a true Christian, she raised them in the spirit of the holy faith. They were reported to Emperor Hadrian, and he wished to see them. It was easy to guess why they were being called, and they began to prayerfully prepare for martyrdom. The mother convinced her young daughters to give their lives for Christ. “My children,” she said, “remember that I gave birth to you in suffering, raised you with much difficulty, and console your mother’s old age with a firm confession of the name of Christ.” Strengthened by the prayer and admonitions of their mother, three young girls, of whom the eldest was only twelve years old, fearlessly confessed their faith before the king and were beheaded before the eyes of their mother. The king did not torture Sophia, knowing that the torment would not shake her faith, he even allowed her to bury her daughters, but on the third day, after the shock she experienced at the sight of the suffering of the children, she gave up her soul to God (about 137, their memory is September 17). Perpetua, Filicita and Potamina During the persecution of Emperor Septimius Severus, Saints Perpetua and Filicita suffered. Perepetua was still a catechumen when she had the opportunity to become one of Christ’s confessors. She was a young and beautiful woman (22 years old); she came from a rich and noble Carthaginian family, was married and had a baby. Her mother was a Christian, her father a pagan. He was afraid of losing his beloved daughter, and at the same time he was extremely embarrassed for her in front of his fellow pagan citizens. Therefore, at the beginning of the persecution, he tried in every possible way to persuade her to renounce Christ. "Father! - objected Perpetua, - do you see this vessel? Can you call it anything other than what it really is? Likewise, I cannot be called anything other than a Christian.” Soon she was imprisoned. “I was horrified,” says the holy confessor, “I have never been in such terrible darkness. Tough day! The languid stuffiness from the multitude of prisoners, the cruel treatment of the guards and, finally, the painful longing for the child.” The believers, having bribed the guards, found it possible to somewhat alleviate the suffering of the young confessor. She hastened to take advantage of the privilege given to her to feed her child. Finally, she was allowed to take him to her prison. “The dungeon has now become a palace for me,” said the delighted mother, caressing her little one. An elderly father came to Perpetua in prison, and cruel trials began for her. The father did not order his daughter, but asked her, begged her, fell on his knees before her, convincing her to renounce her faith, kissed her hands and wet them with tears. “Have mercy on my gray hair,” he told his daughter, “don’t make me an object of reproach. Look at your mother, brothers, son: he can’t live without you!” She looked at Father Perepetui with inexpressible melancholy and, remaining adamant in the truth of her confession, was exhausted in her efforts to somehow moderate his grief. The trial of those accused of Christianity opened, and the proconsul appeared. A huge crowd surrounded the praetorium. At a critical moment, Perpetua's father pushed through the crowd with her child. “Have pity on your child,” he exclaimed in a loud voice. “Have mercy on your father’s gray hair,” said the judge, “have mercy on your child, make a sacrifice to Caesar!” “I can’t,” answered Saint Perpetua. “So, are you a Christian?” – asked the proconsul. “Yes, I am a Christian,” she answered firmly. The proconsul ordered her to be given to be devoured by wild beasts on the next pagan holiday. Filicitata was Perpetua's servant and steadily followed her mistress both to trial and to prison. She was pregnant, and it was time to give birth in the dungeon. In the midst of the pangs of birth, she groaned. Someone said to her: “And if you groan now, what will happen when they throw you to the beasts?” “Now I am suffering alone, and then the Lord will bear my suffering, because I will be tormented for Him.” According to Roman custom, those who were condemned to this execution were prepared a sumptuous dinner the day before and were given some freedom. Perpetua and her fellow prisoners were honored to receive the Holy Mysteries. In these sacred moments, the vaults of the gloomy prison resounded with solemn chants in honor of the Lord Savior. The birthday of the emperor's son was chosen for the execution, since such solemn days were celebrated with amusing games. God gave weak women the strength to face a terrible death without fear. At first they were brutally beaten, then animals were released on them; finally, the gladiators stabbed to death the courageous sufferers (202 or 203, commemorated on February 1). Potamina was still a young girl when, after various tortures and tortures, she was sentenced to be burned in boiling tar, and she endured this cruel execution with great courage. Her suffering made a strong impression on one of the warriors, named Basilides, who accompanied her to the place of execution and protected her from insults from the mob. Three days after her death, Potamina, already in glorified form, appeared in a dream to Basilides, laid a crown on him and said: “I begged the Lord to grant you salvation.” Some time passed, and on some occasion his comrades demanded a pagan oath from Basilides. Basilides refused and declared that he was a Christian. At first they did not believe him, but, seeing the firmness of the confessor, they put him in prison and executed him. In prison he was visited by some of the Christians, to whom he told the story of his conversion (203, commemorated January 20). Great Martyr Anastasia the Pattern Maker Saint Anastasia was the daughter of a noble and wealthy Roman. Her father was a pagan, her mother a Christian. Distinguished by her intelligence and beauty, she received a brilliant upbringing. Her mother and one zealous Christian, named Chrysogon, kindled in her heart love for Christ and, for His sake, for all the poor and suffering, especially she had compassion for those imprisoned. After the death of her mother, she was, against her will, given into marriage. Her husband was a cruel man and, fearing that she would waste all her wealth on prisoners, he began to keep her locked up. Deprived of freedom and the opportunity to visit those languishing in prison, she wrote to her teacher: “Pray to God for me, for whose love I suffer to the point of exhaustion.” The elder answered her: “Do not forget that Christ walking on the waters is able to calm every storm.” Soon after this, her husband died, and she received her freedom. Now she was no longer limited to the dungeons of Rome alone, but moved from city to city, from country to country - she delivered food and clothing to the prisoners, washed their wounds, asked the prison guards to free the sufferers from the iron shackles that were rubbing their wounds, and for this she paid them a lot of money. For all these feats of philanthropy, she was given the name Pattern Maker. Once, having come to the prison to the prisoners whom she had served the day before, she did not find them in place, since they had all been executed that night, and she cried bitterly. Concluding from this that she was also a Christian, they took her and brought her to trial before the ruler. All measures were used to persuade her to renounce her faith, but they all remained unsuccessful. Then she was sentenced to a terrible execution: to tie her to four pillars, light a fire under them and burn her alive; but before the flame flared up, she died (about 304, her memory is December 22). Great Martyr Catherine and Queen Augusta The Holy Great Martyr Catherine was born in Alexandria, came from a noble family and was distinguished by wisdom and beauty. Many rich princes sought her hand. Her mother and relatives persuaded her to enter into marriage so that her father’s wealth would not pass into the wrong hands. But she refused the suitors and told her loved ones: “If you want me to get married, then find me a young man who would be equal to me in beauty and learning.” One desert elder, a man of bright mind and righteous life, said to her: “I know one Wonderful Youth, Who surpasses you in all your gifts; there is no one like Him.” At the end of the conversation, he gave her an icon of the Blessed Virgin with the Divine Child. After this, at night, in a light dream, she imagined that the Queen of Heaven, surrounded by angels, was standing before her and holding the Baby in her arms, and from Him emanated as if the rays of the sun. But Catherine tried in vain to look into the Baby’s face. He turned His bright face away from her. “Do not despise Your creation,” said the Mother of God, “tell her what she must do to enjoy Your glory and see Your bright face.” “Let her go to the old man,” answered the Child, “and learn from him what she should do.” The wonderful dream deeply struck the girl. As soon as morning came, she went to the elder, fell at her feet and asked for his help and advice. The elder explained to her in detail the true faith; told her about the bliss of heaven, about the destruction of sinners. The wise virgin humbled herself and, believing with all her heart, accepted holy baptism. Catherine returned home, renewed in soul; She prayed for a long time, cried a lot and fell asleep in the middle of her prayer; and so she again saw the Mother of God in a dream, but now the face of the Divine Infant turned to her: He looked meekly and mercifully at the girl. The Blessed Virgin took the maiden's right hand. The Divine Child put a wonderful ring on her and said to her: “Do not know the earthly bridegroom.” Catherine woke up with inexplicable joy in her heart. At that time, Maximin, co-ruler of Emperor Diocletian, arrived in Alexandria. He sent messengers to all cities, calling the people to a pagan holiday. Catherine mourned such madness of the king and the people. When the day of the holiday arrived, she went to the church and fearlessly said to the king: “Aren’t you ashamed, king, to pray to vile idols! Know the true God, beginningless and infinite; For them kings reign and the world stands. He came down to earth and became man Himself for our salvation.” Maximin imprisoned her for disrespect for the gods. Then he ordered a gathering of scientists to dissuade the girl, but they could not resist her in word and admitted themselves defeated. The Tsar, however, did not abandon his intention to convince Catherine and tried to seduce her with gifts and promises of honors and glory. But Catherine replied that the martyr’s clothes were more beautiful to her than the royal scarlet. Meanwhile, Maximin left the city on business. Queen Augusta, his wife, who had heard a lot about the wondrous beauty and wisdom of Catherine, wished to see her and, in her conviction, accepted the Christian faith. When the king returned, he again sent for Catherine. The firmness of the holy confessor again aroused his anger; he ordered a wheel with sharp teeth to be brought and threatened to tie her to this terrible instrument of execution; but the threats did not frighten Catherine. Then the king ordered her to be put to this terrible execution, but as soon as the torment began, an invisible force crushed the instrument of torment, and Saint Catherine became unharmed. Queen Augusta, hearing about what had happened, left her palace and began to reproach her husband for how he dared to fight with God Himself. The king became terribly angry and ordered his wife to be killed. The next day, the king called Catherine for the last time and persuaded her to marry, but this was in vain. Seeing the futility of his efforts, the king ordered her to be put to death, and the warrior cut off her head (her memory is November 24). Great Martyr Barbara and Martyr Juliana The Holy Great Martyr Barbara was born in Iliopolis, Phoenician. Distinguished by her wondrous beauty, at the request of her father Dioscorus, she lived away from her relatives and peers, with one mentor and several slaves in a tower that her father specially built for her. This tower stood on a high mountain, from which a beautiful view of the distant space opened up. “Who created all this?” – she asked her mentor. “Our gods,” she answered. Saint Barbara was not satisfied with this answer. After her own long reflection on this, she came to the thought of a single Creator of the world, inexplicable joy filled her soul: the light of grace touched her, through creation she came to know the Creator. From that time on, Varvara’s desire was directed toward where and how to accept the true teaching about God and His holy will. Her father went to another country for a while. Having received great freedom in his absence, Varvara had the opportunity to meet with some of the Christian wives, entered into conversation with them, and from them learned what her soul longed for. With inexpressible joy she accepted holy baptism. But then her father returned and learned that his daughter, so carefully hidden by him, had accepted Christianity. His anger was terrible; he subjected her to severe torture, then locked her in a dark room for several days; but seeing that his threats and punishments remained useless, he became even more embittered and finally decided to take her to the leader of that country, named Martian. Martian at first wanted to influence her with affectionate treatment, began to praise her beauty and admonished her not to deviate from the ancient customs of her father, and not to irritate her father by disobedience. Saint Barbara responded to this by confessing and glorifying the name of Christ, Who was dearer to her than all the blessings and joys of the world. Convinced that admonitions were useless, Martian ordered to beat her with ox sinews. They tormented her for a long time, but nothing could shake her firm faith. They languished her in prison, and it turned out to be in vain. Then she was sentenced to death, and Dioscorus himself cut off her head (about 304) 47 . The firmness of Saint Barbara in her confession of faith had such an effect on one Christian woman named Juliana that she decided to share with her the sorrows, imprisonment, torture at trial, and martyrdom (their commemoration is December 4). With such firmness in enduring suffering as was shown by the holy martyrs and martyrs, persecution by the pagans not only did not destroy the Church, on the contrary, they even contributed to its spread. New confessors of Christ took the place of the victims. Conversions occurred in the praetorium itself, as soon as the holy confessors appeared there. “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians,” said one of the church teachers. The persecution contributed to the spread of Christianity by the fact that the Christians who were scattered because of it, wherever they came, planted the seeds of faith everywhere. Persecution kept believers guarding the faith and the Church in constant vigor, contributed to the awakening of the spirit of faith and mutual love and to the cleansing of the Church from people weak and unworthy to be its members (they purified gold from impurities). – The relics of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara rest in Kiev. You might be interested in: