Страдание святых двенадцати мучеников Памфила пресвитера и прочих с ним

These twelve holy martyrs, awarded the gift of prophecy and apostolic, and equal in number to the 12 Apostles, suffered for Christ in Caesarea Palestine 1407, during the reign of Diocletian. Of these, the eldest in rank and the first in time of suffering was Saint Pamphilus, presbyter of Caesarea. He was from Berit 1408, and from his youth he was still taught pagan wisdom; at the same time, Pamphilus was filled with spiritual wisdom 1409 and shone with his virtuous life. Afterwards he became famous for his courageous confession of the name of Christ. The second of the martyrs was Valens, a deacon of the Elean Church - a man already of advanced age. He was also a knowledgeable man and was especially distinguished by his excellent knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. The third, Paul, embraced by faith in Christ, burned with his zeal for piety. He came from the city of Jamnia 1410 and even earlier suffered a fiery burning for Christ. These three passion-bearers, after various torments for the name of Christ, to which the prefect Urban subjected them, were thrown into prison. Here they languished for 2 whole years, when, after Urban, Firmilian became prefect. During the reign of this hegemon in Egypt, 130 confessors of Christ were condemned to exile: they were sent to Cilicia in 1411 to dig for gold ore. At this time, some young men, brothers not only in flesh, but also in spirit, having escorted those martyrs from Egypt to Cilicia, again returned from there to their fatherland Egypt and approached Caesarea, since their path ran past it; there were five of them. As they entered the city gates, the guards asked them who they were and where they were from? The martyrs, without hiding the truth, answered that they were Christians and called the heavenly Jerusalem their homeland. Then they were captured as villains and thrown into prison. The next day - precisely February 16 - these young men were taken out of prison together with the above-mentioned confessors of Christ Pamphilus, Valens and Paul, and together with them they appeared before the court of the wicked tormentor Hegemon Firmilian. The hegemon first tried to seduce the Egyptian youths, frightening them with various torments. He stood one of them, the oldest, in the middle and asked who he was? The holy martyr fearlessly answered that he and his companions were Christians. When the hegemon asked what their names were, this young man called himself Elijah, the other Jeremiah, the third Isaiah, the fourth Samuel, the fifth Daniel. For these holy young men, having renounced their pagan names, given to them by their parents who did not believe in Christ, instead called themselves by the names of the prophets. By this they wanted to clearly show that they were servants of the God of Israel, not only in their deeds, but also in their names. Not knowing such names, Hegemon Firmilian began to ask them about their fatherland. Then Elijah, remembering the words of the Apostle Paul: “Jerusalem above is free: she is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26), and his other words: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem and ten thousand angels, to the triumphant council and church of the firstborn” (Heb. 12:22), called himself a citizen of the Heavenly Jerusalem, meaning by this the city is its spiritual fatherland, not an earthly one. Hegemon Firmilian did not know what kind of city Jerusalem was and where it was located. For at that time the holy city was not called Jerusalem, but Elijah. This name was given to it by the wicked Roman king Hadrian. On the site of the former Jerusalem, destroyed by Titus, he built a new city and gave it his name, for it was called Elius Hadrian. At the same time, calling Jerusalem Elijah, Hadrian desecrated all the holy places in it, covered the Holy Sepulcher with sand and stones and placed vile idols everywhere. After this, he ordered that everyone call this city nothing other than Elijah. He did all this because he wanted to destroy on earth even the very memory of the name of Jesus Christ. After that, for two hundred years, the wicked idolaters did not call this city Jerusalem and neglected it. This continued until the time of the pious Tsar Constantine and his mother Helen. That is why hegemon Firmilian, who lived in Palestine during the reign of Diocletian, did not know where the city called Jerusalem was, about which the holy youth told him. He ordered that blessed young man, who called himself Elijah, to tie his hands behind his back, hang him naked in a place of torture and severely beat him so that he would say what kind of city Jerusalem is and in what country it is located. The pious young man replied that Jerusalem is the fatherland of Christians only and none of the pagans can enter it, and that this city is founded in the east, where the sun begins to shed its first rays on the earth. So the saint spoke to the hegemon about the highest, spiritual Jerusalem, not paying attention to the torment, as if he were incorporeal. The hegemon, not understanding that the saint was telling him about spiritual Jerusalem, thought that the Christians had built a city for themselves somewhere and wanted to resist the Romans. Therefore, he ordered the holy young man to be subjected to even greater torture, so that he would tell in more detail everything about this Christian city and indicate where it was located. But when the hegemon could hear nothing more from him except the confession of the name of Christ, he ordered the head of the holy youth to be beheaded with a sword. Then he tortured other young men: Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel and Daniel. But having heard from them the same thing as from the first, he ordered them to be beheaded with a sword. Having also learned from research that the holy presbyter Pamphilus, deacon Valens and Paul had already been kept in prison for a long time two years before him by his predecessor hegemon Urban, Firmilian did not want to torment them any longer. He ordered them only to ask whether they would obey the royal command; and when he learned that they remained adamant, he condemned them to death too. One of Pamphilus’ servants, named Porfiry, a youth of about eighteen years old, very beloved by his master, the holy presbyter Pamphilus, for his chastity and prudence, having heard the death sentence against the holy martyrs, loudly exclaimed from the people: “Please give me the bodies of the saints so that they can be buried.” With these words, he left the people and stood before the hegemon. Having learned that Porfiry was also a Christian, the hegemon ordered him to be hanged naked in the same place where he tortured the five holy youths, and ordered him to be severely beaten. The wicked tormentors beat him until his entire body was covered with wounds and fell in pieces to the ground, so that even his bones and entrails could be seen. But Saint Porfiry patiently endured this torment; he seemed to feel nothing: he didn’t even moan or scream, but was silent, as if the tormentors were inflicting wounds not on him, but on some pillar or wall. All this further intensified the rage of the hegemon: Firmilian ordered his wounds to be tormented with a prickly and tough hair shirt, and after that he condemned him to be burned. The torturers erected a pillar, tied the holy martyr to it, surrounded it with wood and lit it. When the fire had already engulfed him from all sides, the martyr began to cry out loudly, calling for help from Jesus Christ, the Son of God; then he fell silent and betrayed his holy and pure soul to the Lord. And so he suffered for his Lord after his master, but before him he was honored to receive the crown of martyrdom, for at the time when Saint Porfiry, having betrayed his soul at the stake, went to the Lord, Saint Pamphilus, along with the other martyrs, had not yet been beheaded by the sword. At the time when Saint Porphyry was burned at the stake, among the people there was one pious man named Seleucus, who had previously been a warrior. When Porfiry had already given up his soul to the Lord, he went after the holy martyrs, who were led to the place of suffering. He found them still alive, since the saints begged their tormentors to give them some time for prayer. Seleucus, approaching Saint Pamphilus, told him everything about the torment of Saint Porphyry, and Pamphilus rejoiced and began to send thanks to God. Here Seleucus gave his last kiss to the martyrs, who were already ready to bow their heads to be beheaded by the sword. The soldiers who were here, seeing this and learning that Seleucus was a Christian, grabbed him and brought him to the hegemon. Firmilian ordered Seleucia to be executed immediately with the sword. This saint came from Cappadocia and was a brave and glorious warrior in the Roman armies; at the beginning of the persecution of Christians, he was severely beaten for confessing Christ, deprived of his military rank and honor, and expelled from the regiment. But he cared for the sick lying on the city streets, cared for the poor and orphans, and then, joining the holy martyrs and confessors, rejoicing, he went to his Master Christ the Lord. At the same time, after Saint Seleucia, Saint Theodulus also joined the ranks of the martyrs. He was one of the servants of Hegemon Firmilian; This husband was respected by everyone for his advanced old age: he already had great-grandchildren. Being a secret Christian, he approached one of the holy martyrs who was led to suffer, kissed him and asked that the holy martyr of Christ pray with him to the Lord God. Some of the hegemon's servants, seeing this, reported to their master about Theodulus and said that he was also a Christian. When Firmilian began to question Saint Theodulus and learned that this man was really a Christian, he became very angry with him and ordered Saint Theodulus to be crucified on the cross. Concluding the twelve-numbered rank of the Apostles, after all Saint Julian also joined the number of martyrs. He also came from Cappadocia and was an honest and virtuous man. He needed to go to Caesarea in Palestine on his business. Approaching the city, Julian noticed that near the city the bodies of the holy martyrs were thrown to be devoured by dogs and birds. He rejoiced in spirit and, falling down to them, kissed the bodies of Christ’s sufferers and praised their martyrdom, after which they were honored with endless life with Christ. But soldiers were stationed at a distance to ensure that none of the secret Christians would steal their bodies. Seeing a man fall to the bodies of the saints and kiss them, they realized that he was also a Christian; then the soldiers grabbed him and took him to the hegemon. After interrogating him, Firmilian condemned the holy man to be burned; and so Saint Julian suffered for Christ in exactly the same way as Saint Porphyry. So these twelve martyrs, equal in number to the Apostles, together with them were worthy to stand before the throne of God in the Heavenly Kingdom, adorned with victorious crowns 1412. Their holy bodies lay abandoned in the dust outside the city for four days. The wicked, seeing that neither dogs, nor animals, nor birds were touching them, declared that whoever wanted could take them and bury them; then the Christians, taking these holy bodies, reverently buried them, glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the One God in the Trinity. Amen. Through the terrible torment presented to them, the Lord's sufferers were kind in their fearless, rejoicing wisdom, conversing with this, carelessly about the flesh: thereby inheriting eternal glory, praying for us ever since, praising their exploits. Caesarea is a large city in Palestine, near the Mediterranean Sea. Berit - present-day Beirut - is the main city of the Asian-Turkish vilayet of Syria, the most important trading point on the Syrian coast between Said and Tarabul Yaripolis. One of the main activities of Saint Pamphilus was the comparison and correction of manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures, the text of which was significantly damaged by scribes at that time. Through his cares and labors an extensive library was collected in Caesarea. Blessed Jerome greatly respected the martyr Pamphilus and, having found some of his manuscripts, considered himself richer than Croesus. Greek name for the Philistine city of Jabnea, between Ekron and the sea; now it is a large village with the name Ievna. Cilicia is the southeastern coastal country of Asia Minor. You might be interested in: