Страдание святого мученика Никифора

In the great Antioch of Syria lived a certain presbyter named Sapricius, and a simple citizen Nicephorus. They had such love for each other and were so friendly that some considered them siblings. After many years of such friendship, the devil, who hates everything good, was jealous of them and sowed such tares of enmity in them that they did not even want to meet each other on the road: so they hated each other; and as much as before love and friendship reigned between them, so later, through the action of Satan, hatred and enmity flared up among them towards each other. Having lived in such hatred and enmity with each other for quite a long time, Nikephoros, having come to his senses and realizing that the devil was sowing this enmity, began to ask his friends and neighbors to go to the presbyter Sapricius and beg him to forgive him, the repentant, and to love him with his former love; but the presbyter did not want to give up his enmity against him. Then Nicephorus again sent other friends with the same request, but the presbyter did not want to listen to them. He also rejected those sent for the third time and did not listen to their prayers and, thus, did not bow to mercy in order to forgive his brother, who humbly sought forgiveness. On the contrary, having hardened his heart, he remained implacable, forgetting the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37); and again: “So, if you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift... For if you forgive people their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matt. 5:23–24, Matt. 6:14). Then Nicephorus, seeing that the Saprik presbyter did not want to accept the petition for him, he himself went to him and, falling at his feet, said to him: - Forgive me, father, for the sake of the Lord, forgive me. But Sapriky didn’t even look at him; he was an unmerciful man and had neither love nor fear of the Lord; being a Christian and an elder, he had to forgive his brother even without asking. Having not received forgiveness, Nikifor left him disgraced and rejected. At this time - during the reign of Valerian and Gallienus 1288 - Sapriky was captured as a Christian and presented to the hegemon for torture. “I am called Sapricius,” he answered. -What kind are you? – asked the hegemon. “I am a Christian,” answered Sapriky. -Are you a cleric? – the hegemon asked again. “I am a presbyter,” answered Sapriky. Then the hegemon said: “Our kings, the rulers of this country and all the borders of Rome, Valerian and Gallienus, commanded that those who call themselves Christians make sacrifices to the immortal gods; and whoever, despising, rejects the royal command, let him know that, after all kinds of torment, he will be condemned to a grave death. After these words, Sapriky, standing before the hegemon, said: - Oh hegemon! We Christians have a King - Christ God, for He alone is the True God and Creator of heaven and earth, the sea and everything that is in them; nevertheless, the pagan gods are demons, and may they be destroyed from the face of the whole earth; like the works of human hands, they cannot help anyone. Then the angry hegemon ordered him to be stretched on a wheel and tormented mercilessly. Among these tortures, Sapriky said to the hegemon: “You have power over my body, but you have no power over my soul: only Jesus Christ, who created it, has power over it.” After this, Sapriky courageously endured all the torments inflicted on him. Seeing him adamant, the cruel judge issued the following death sentence: “We command that the presbyter Sapricius, who despised the royal command and did not want to make sacrifices to the immortal gods and abandon Christian error, be beheaded with the sword.” While Sapriky was going to execution, in the hope of receiving the heavenly crown of martyrdom, blessed Nicephorus, hearing about this, hurried to meet him and, falling at his feet, said: - Martyr of Christ, forgive me, I have sinned before you! The same one did not answer him anything, since his heart was still enveloped in demonic malice. On the further path to the place of execution, Saint Nicephorus again fell at the feet of Sapricius, saying: - Martyr of Christ, forgive me for what I have sinned against you as a man; Behold, a crown from Christ is given to you from heaven, since you did not deny Him, but confessed His holy name before many. Sapriky, blinded by hatred and hard-hearted to forgive, remained implacable, not at all showing any intention to forgive him. He didn’t even say a word to his brother who begged him, so that even the tormentors themselves were surprised at the cruelty of Saprikius and said to Nikephoros: “We have never seen such a crazy person as you: now he is going to his death, and you beg him even more earnestly: can he harm you in any way after death?” And why do you need to reconcile with someone who is about to die? To this Saint Nicephorus answered them: “You don’t know what I ask from the confessor of Christ, but God knows.” When they came to the place where Sapricius was to be beheaded with a sword, Saint Nicephorus turned to him again: “I beg you, martyr of Christ,” he said, forgive me if I have sinned before you in any way as a man. It is written: “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7), - so I beg you, - and so grant me forgiveness. But his hard-hearted friend Sapriky did not bow to such prayers; he did not remember the words of the Lord: “Jesus said to him: Love the Lord your God with all your heart... love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39); but, having closed the ears of his heart and body, he remained like a deaf asp, rejecting the prayer of the one who conjured him. So, Sapriky did not heed what was said in the Gospel, that whoever forgives his neighbor will also be forgiven, and did not listen to the words of the Lord: “with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). That is why the Lord, the righteous Judge, in His just judgment, withdrew His grace from Sapricius, and he immediately fell away from the Lord and lost the crown of martyrdom he had woven for himself. When the tormentors said to Sapricius: “Bow your knees so that we can cut off your head,” he said to them: - Why do you want to behead me? - Because you did not want to make sacrifices to the gods and disobeyed the royal command for the sake of a certain person called Christ. Hearing this, the accursed Sapriky said to them: “Do not kill me, for I will do what the kings command: I will worship the gods and make a sacrifice to them.” So hatred blinded the heart of Sapricius! She tore him away from the grace of God, and he, previously tormented and not rejecting Christ, now, instead of accepting the martyr’s crown of glory, renounced eternal life and became an apostate. Hearing these crazy words of Sapricius, Nicephorus began to beg him with tears in his eyes: – Don’t do this, O beloved brother! Do not deny our Lord Jesus Christ! Do not destroy that heavenly crown that you wove for yourself in the midst of your suffering! Here at the door stands the Lord Christ, Who will appear to you again and reward you with eternal life for this temporary death that you have come to accept in this place. Sapriky did not listen to his prayers: he was in a hurry to eternal death, at the same time losing that endless life that he was supposed to receive through one blow of the sword. Saint Nicephorus, seeing that Sapriky had completely fallen away from the holy faith and was torn away from Christ, the True God, began to cry out to the tormentors in a loud voice: – I am a Christian and I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, Whom Sapriky rejected; So, behead me instead of Sapricius. The soldiers, not daring to kill him without the command of the hegemon, were very surprised that he would willingly give himself up to death, completely freely exclaiming: “I am a Christian and I will not make sacrifices to your gods!” Then one of the tormentors, appearing to the hegemon, told him that Sapriky had promised to make a sacrifice to the gods, but there is someone, he added, who wants to die for the so-called Christ, and therefore loudly exclaims: “I am a Christian, I will not sacrifice to your gods and I will not obey the king’s commands!” Hearing this, the hegemon ordered Sapricius to be released, and Nikephoros to be beheaded with a sword instead. So the holy martyr was killed for Christ, on the ninth day of the month of February 1289, and, rejoicing, he departed to Christ the Lord, in order to receive from His right hand the crown of victory and to appear to Him in the face of the holy martyrs, glorifying the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One in the Trinity of God, to Him be honor and worship, glory and power forever, amen. Having united yourself with love, Nikephoros, you destroyed the manifest malice of hatred and you were beheaded with a sword at your head, the Divine Martyr of the Incarnate Savior, whom you pray for us, who sing of your glorious memory. Having gazed upon the Lord's glorious love and this glorious Cross upon the frame, you put to shame the devils' intrigues, you suffered even to death and the truth appeared as a victor, the armorer and the secret of God's grace. Valerian reigned from 253 to 259, his son Gallienus reigned from 260 to 268. While his father was still alive, he was made Caesar and co-ruler. The Holy Martyr Nikephoros suffered and died around 257. You might be interested in: