Страдание святых мучеников Феопемпта и Феоны

King Diocletian, in the first year of the persecution he initiated against Christians, once during his travels arrived in the city of Nicomedia and here, having placed many idol images, he worshiped them. A few days later, the Bishop of Nicomedia, Theopemptos, was captured in the city environs (he was the first to suffer in the persecution of Christians by Diocletian), who, being presented to the king for trial, said: “These gods, silver and gold, wood and stone, which you worship, are not gods at all, for they cannot breathe, nor speak, nor do anything good or evil; The Almighty Heavenly God created the sky, earth and sea and everything that is in them. When the saint said this and much more about the Christian faith, the king said to him in anger: “I called you not to reason, but so that you could make a sacrifice to the god Apollo without talking.” Saint Theopempt responded to this with these words: “I will never make a sacrifice to such gods and will never be afraid of the torment that you can assign to me, for it is written: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28). And you, having power over my body, do whatever you want! Then the king ordered the stove to be lit so that the holy bishop could be thrown into it, and the soldiers lit the stove as hot as possible, from morning until noon. At this time the holy bishop said to them: “Wait a little, and I will show you the power of the Lord my God, for whose holy name this furnace is kindled for me.” Having said this, the saint threw himself into the burning furnace and sat down in the middle of it, and the soldiers, believing that he was immediately burned, left. But at midnight the holy man, leaving the oven, entered the royal bedchamber, the doors of which opened before him by themselves, and, waking up the king, said to him: “I am Bishop Theopemptos, a servant of Jesus Christ: I am not dead, but alive, although you ordered me to be killed.” Having said this, he entered the oven again. The king, seeing the saint and hearing his words, was horrified and seemed speechless from intense fear. The next morning, calling his soldiers, he told them: “Did you throw into the hot furnace that Christian whom I commanded you to throw?” “We did, sir, as you commanded—we abandoned him, and he died in the fire yesterday.” Then Diocletian got up, went with the soldiers to the furnace, and there he heard the holy bishop, in the middle of the kindled furnace, singing and praising God. This led the king to extreme surprise, and when the saint came out of the oven unharmed, the king said to those around him: - Look how powerful Christian magic is; I heard that Christians perform their magical works in the name of some Jesus. After this, the king immediately ordered to take the dog and throw it into the oven to see if the dog would remain intact, just as the bishop miraculously remained intact; but the dog immediately burned. Seeing this, the king said to the man of God: “I will give you over to the most severe torment as a wicked person, because I am convinced that you are a seducer and a magician.” He ordered to imprison him in a narrow prison and not give him either bread or water until the day on which the king wanted to judge him, and the man of God stayed in that prison for twenty-two days without food or drink, being strengthened by God. At the end of this time, the king said to his soldiers: “Let’s go and see if that Christian is alive or has already died?” Finding him alive and joyful, as if after a royal dinner, Diocletian became angry and, leading the blessed bishop out of prison, tore his clothes, clasped his hands and said: - Look how powerful Christian magic is! But the blessed bishop said to this: - How long, unfortunate one, will you remain blinded and until when will you not recognize the true God in whom I believe? For He has given me strength and strength so that I can defeat you and so that I can rise above all the torments that you invent for me and despise them. At these words, the king ordered to tear out the saint’s right eye and put it in the martyr’s right hand, and then take him to prison. When the saint began to pray here, a great light shone before him in prison, and immediately the apple of his eye opened and became whole and healthy, like the other. Having learned about this and seeing the saint, the king became even more angry and said: - I swear by the Roman Apollo 253 that I will not rest until I find a stronger wizard who could destroy all your tricks and magical actions! Having said this, the king again ordered him to be taken to prison, and he himself sent decrees to all the countries subject to him, with the following content: “If any wizard,” the king wrote, “can destroy Christian sorcery, let him appear as soon as possible; he will receive great gifts and great honors. And then one magician named Theona came, who, appearing before the face of Diocletian, said: “At your command, I have come to destroy Christian magic as quickly as possible, and I will certainly fulfill what I promise you.” Hearing this, the king rejoiced and said: “I have a Christian prince in prison. When you destroy his magical power, you will receive great honor from us. “Let this Christian perform some miracle in front of me, and in your presence I will destroy all his deeds.” The king was delighted at this and said to Feona: “However, I would like to first see some sign performed by you.” Theon then asked the most ferocious bull to be brought to him. When the bull was brought, Feona whispered some words into his ears, and the bull at the same instant split into two parts, and each part lay separately. Then the amazed king said: – Indeed, you can destroy Christian magic! “Wait a little longer, king,” Feona answered him, “and you will understand the greatness of the miracle that took place!” Having said this, he ordered scales to be brought to him and placed both parts of the ox on them, which turned out to be both equal in weight. Immediately after this, Diocletian ordered the holy bishop Theopemptos to be brought to him and, placing him opposite the sorcerer, said to him: - I know that you are a deceiver and a wizard! This sorcerer came from Egypt, and now I want to find out which of you is stronger in magic. Then Feona said to the bishop: “I will show you two effects of my magical power, and if they do not harm you, then I will believe in your God.” Having prepared two round cakes from flour, he invited the bishop to eat them. The bishop took them and ate them, and they seemed to him to taste as sweet as honey and did not cause him any harm. Seeing this, Feona was surprised and said: “I will test on you another wonderful effect of my art, and if it does not harm you, then I will believe in your God.” Taking a bowl of water, he put one poisonous herb in it and called on the most powerful demons to help him so that the poison would act more strongly, and then gave the water to the saint to drink. When the saint drank it without any harm to himself, Feona immediately fell at the feet of the holy bishop and said: – There is no other God in whom one could trust except Jesus alone! – I am a Christian and I worship the Crucified One! Hearing this, the king was greatly embarrassed and exclaimed: – Great are the miracles of Christian wizards! And he ordered them both to be taken to prison. There the holy bishop, having taught Theon faith, renamed him Synesius (which means: full of reason, since he understood and knew Christ God and Lord with a pure heart) and baptized him. The next morning the king ordered the holy bishop to be brought to him and, bowing his head before him, said to him: - Hello, teacher of wizards. And then he began to convince him to turn to the wicked Hellenic faith. When the saint refused to make a sacrifice to the gods, the king ordered him to be stretched out on the ground, face up, and tied to four trees by his arms and legs, and then to bring a rather large fragment of a stone pillar, which eight people could barely carry, and place it on the saint’s belly. But the holy bishop turned to God with prayer - and immediately the stone that was placed on his belly rose by itself and was thrown away from him, almost fifteen cubits away. Then Diocletian ordered the saint to be hanged by his feet, head down, and a heavy stone tied to his neck, and left him hanging in this position from morning until three o'clock in the afternoon. Then he ordered the rope on which the saint was hanged by his feet to be suddenly cut; he thought that when he fell, he would be crushed by a heavy stone, hurt himself and thus die shamefully. But when this was done, the holy bishop, by the power of God, stood straight on his feet. After this, the torturer pronounced a death sentence on him. The saint, joyfully hearing him, exclaimed loudly: – Blessed be God, the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, that He has made me worthy to reach that day, the coming of which I have always desired. So, I pray to You, Lord, remember me forever and at this hour! Having said this, he knelt down and, having undergone the truncation of his head, reposed in peace, confessing the Most Holy Trinity. Then the king ordered the sorcerer Feona, who believed in Christ, to be brought to him, and when neither caresses nor threats could persuade him to sacrifice to an idol, he ordered him to be thrown into a deep ditch and covered with earth. Fierce horses were also brought in, trampling underfoot the earth that had been poured onto the saint who had been thrown into the ditch. So Saint Theona, sprinkled with earth and trampled for a long time under horse feet, went to the Lord 254. The holy martyrs, Bishop Theopemptus and Theona, who is also Synesius, accomplished their suffering feat in Nicomedia, under King Diocletian, being under the authority of the Supreme King, our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory forever, amen. Greco-Roman god, revered as the patron of mental enlightenment and the deity of the sun. His death followed in 303. You might be interested in: