Страдание святой мученицы Феодулии

During the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, kings of Rome 1206, the ruler in the city of Anazarva 1207 was a certain Pelagius, a cruel persecutor of Christians. He ordered his servants to go and look for Christians throughout his region in order to take them and bring them to him for trial, where, after listening to the royal command, they were supposed to worship the gods. The servants, having gone to carry out the order, took a certain Christian woman named Theodulia. She, fearing not so much torment as not to be desecrated by the infidels, offered them a lot of gold, asking them to let her go. But they, without taking the gold, brought Theodulia to their governor, telling him about her that she wanted to pay them off with gold. The ruler praised the servants who did not accept the gold and did not let her go, and for this he rewarded them with gifts. He himself, having sat down at the judgment seat and placing this blessed wife before him, asked her about her name. She answered: Voivode Pelagius said: “Before I start torturing you, tell us your name.” “I already said and didn’t lie that I call myself a Christian.” This is my honorable and eternal name, but people call me Theodulia, I was born from Christian parents and received a good upbringing in the Christian law. “I see that you are answering me madly.” “You yourself are crazy,” answered Saint Theodulia, “because, having abandoned God, you worship stone.” “I admonish you as a sister: make a sacrifice to the gods, and then go enjoy my estate, and you will be in great honor.” - Enjoy your property, you yourself together with your father - Satan, and both of you will inherit eternal torment. “I know that you women are hot-tempered and angry and annoy the authorities; but I do not quickly become angry and with meekness I instruct you so that you submit to me and make a sacrifice to the gods, and not destroy your soul. - By remaining in the confession of God, I do not destroy my soul, but save it, and my body will go into the ground; So, I’m not telling you like a madwoman: torture my body if you want. God, seeing my patience and my complete readiness to suffer for Him, will give me His help, for He Himself suffered for us on the Cross, arranging the salvation of His people. Pelagius said to her: “You think with these words of yours to arouse rage in me so that I will quickly destroy you; know that I will torment you for a long time, cutting off each of your members one by one, until I destroy you. “You crafty and predatory wolf,” the saint said to this, “how can you destroy a sheep that has Christ, the Creator of all, as its Shepherd; Can anyone kidnap me from His hand? Then the tormentor, angry, ordered to strip the saint and hang her by her hair on a cypress tree and torture her with red-hot iron hooks, burning her nipples. The saint, amid her torment, said: “You see, ruler, that I do not feel torment, but you, as I see, are more tormented and defeated by me.” The ruler answered her: “Our gods are merciful and know that you will turn to them, therefore, sparing you, they removed pain from you so that you would not feel torment.” - Where are your gods who spare me; show them to me so that I can honor them. Hearing these words, the ruler rejoiced greatly and ordered her to be quickly untied and taken to the church of Hadrian, whom they revered as a living and powerful god 1208. Entering this church, the saint saw the idol of Adrian and, having prayed to the True God, blew on the idol, and it immediately fell, as if struck by thunder, and broke into three parts. Coming out, the saint said to the governor: - Go in and help your god, because he fell and was broken. Entering, the ruler saw the idol lying on the ground, broken into three parts, and began to sob with great lamentation for it. The rumor about the destruction of Hadrian's idol reached the kings; They sent a man from themselves to the city of Anazarv to verify the truth of this rumor, and if it was true, then to give the ruler of the city to be devoured by wild beasts. Having learned this, the ruler fell to Saint Theodulia with tears, begging her to make their god whole again and promising to become a Christian if he saw this god standing in the same place where he was at first. The saint, having made a fervent prayer to the omnipotent God, ordered the idol to stand intact in its place, and the idol immediately stood up intact, went and stood in the place where it had stood before. The man sent from the kings, having come and seeing the idol intact, returned to the kings without causing any harm to the ruler. After this, an order came from the kings to Pelagius, ordering Theodulia to be subjected to various torments and put to death. Pelagius not only did not fulfill his promise to become a Christian, but he also forgot about the good deed of Saint Theodulia, and therefore again took her to torture, ordering her legs to be drilled with red-hot iron sticks. While they were performing this on her, commentary 1209 Helladius approached Pelagius and said: “I ask your lordship, give this girl under my power, and I will persuade her to bow to the gods: if I do not do this, then you will cut off my head.” The ruler gave the saint into his power. He, taking five long nails, stuck one into her left ear so that it went all the way to her right ear, and the other nail stuck into her right ear so that it went all the way to her left ear; the third nail drove into her forehead, and two pierced the nipples of her breasts. The saint, raising her eyes to heaven, prayed to God that He would grant her patience, and immediately received God’s help and healing: the nails fell out and she became unharmed. Helladius took the saint into his house and began to flatteringly exhort her to worship the gods with him, “so that I,” he said, “would receive honor from the city governor, and you would receive great glory from the kings themselves.” “Better convince yourself and become a Christian in order to receive not short-term, but eternal honor in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will judge the living and the dead and reward everyone according to their deeds.” – Speak the whole truth, servant of Christ, because my heart flared up within me at your words. Then Theodulia began to tell him: - This world and all its riches, and all its glory are fleeting, but the next age is endless: and whoever does good here will receive a good reward in that age: those who do evil in this world will be tormented there forever; those who bow to idols, like you, will especially be given over to eternal torment. With such instructions Saint Theodulia led Helladius to the knowledge of the truth, and he said to her with tenderness of heart: “I ask you, Madam Theodulia, do not remember the evil that I caused you, but pray to your God for me, so that I too may become a Christian.” When morning came, Helladius, together with Theodulia, appeared to the governor and said: “I could not seduce the servant of the True God from the right and blessed path, but, on the contrary, she guided me on the right path, saving me from the darkness of ignorance and leading me to Christ the True God, in whom, without any doubt, I believe, and I confess His holy name and worship Him diligently. Hearing these words of his, the governor ordered to immediately cut off his head with a sword and throw his body into the sea. Thus his torment took place on the twenty-fourth day of January. Saint Theodulia was thrown into a very hot oven, but remained unharmed. After this, the tormentor ordered to light a frying pan for blessed Theodulia, spread her out on that frying pan and doused her with boiling resin, wax and oil; but the frying pan, from the fire with which it was lit, shattered into pieces, and the sparks and flames burned many of the surrounding people, while the governor himself, engulfed in that flame, died a terrible death, and Saint Theodulia again remained unharmed. At the sight of this miracle, many people believed in Christ, among whom were honorary citizens, Macarius and Evagrius. After this, the unbelievers again lit the furnace, threw Saint Theodoulia into it and with her Macarius and Evagrius, as well as many who believed in Christ. And everyone, having prayed there, accepted their death, presenting themselves to endless life, where they are crowned with the crown of victory and triumph with all the saints, glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. Diocletian (in the East) and Maximian (in the West) reigned from 284 to 305. Anazarus is a city in Cilicia, in the southeast of Asia Minor. Here, of course, is a church with an idol or image of the Roman emperor Hadrian (reigned from 117–138). The Romans, as you know, ranked their deceased emperors among the host of gods (the so-called “cult of the Caesars”), they gave them divine honors, made sacrifices, and so on. This veneration of emperors began with Augustus and continued to exist throughout the pagan Roman Empire. They began to idolize not only the dead Caesars (i.e., emperors), but even the living ones. This veneration was compulsory for everyone. It was considered obligatory to have an image of the reigning emperor between his penates (household gods) even in his home. The observance of the cult of the Caesars in the Roman Empire was strictly observed, and whoever, through negligence or disrespect, did not want to express honor to the emperor, was treated as the greatest criminal. Roman rulers also demanded such religious veneration of emperors from Christians. Commentary - an official who looked after the prisoners and kept a record of them. You might be interested in: