Память святого Маруфа епископа и святых мучеников, пострадавших в Мартирополе

Saint Maruf was the bishop of Tagrit 1413, the main city of the Mesopotamian-Sophosene region: this area was on the borders of the Greek empire and pagan Persia; in it, the pious bishop, like a lamp, shone with the light of his knowledge of God: he converted pagan Persians to Christianity with his preaching, interceded for Christians before the Persian kings, and tried to introduce peace and serenity everywhere. Thus, under Theodosius the Younger, Maruf was sent to Izdegerd twice in 1414 to conclude peace between the two empires, and for his piety and intelligence he gained full respect from Izdegerd. The Persian magicians did not like this disposition of the king towards Saint Maruf very much, and so they decided to destroy the pious bishop; After Maruf healed Izdegerd from a dangerous headache that magicians could not heal, it was decided to take measures against him. One day, when the king, as usual, went into the church to worship the fire, he heard a voice: - There is the king, - his love for a Christian priest is wicked! After this, the amazed Izdegerd wanted to remove Maruf from himself, but the deception was soon discovered, and the magicians were executed; After this, the Christian faith began to spread among fire worshipers. In 414, Maruf another time served as ambassador to the court of Izdegerd. The magicians again rebelled against the holy bishop, but their intention was again unsuccessful, and Maruf gained even more confidence before the Persian king. At the same time, Saint Maruf, together with Bishop Avda, healed the demon-possessed son of Izdegerd with the prayer of faith; after this, Izdegerd even intended to be baptized and allowed him to freely profess the Christian faith in Persia. Taking advantage of this disposition of the Persian king, Saint Maruf spread the teachings of Christ everywhere, restored churches overthrown during the persecution of Sapor, and convened councils. At the same time, he collected the remains of the holy martyrs who suffered under King Sapor, and transferred them to the city of Tagrit, which he created, where he himself died around 422 1415. Tagrit, or in Greek. Martyropol, until the time of Justinian, belonged to the Greek Empire and was its border city with the Persian Empire. The Persian king Izdegerd I reigned from 399 to 420. Maruf left behind quite a lot of works in the Syrian language, which have not all been published so far. Especially worthy of fame are: 1) his unpublished Commentary on the Gospel; 2) History of the Persian martyrs; 3) Levni Marufa; 4) Liturgy, his and 5) 73 rules of the Council of Nicaea with a description of the acts of this council. The relics of Saint Maruf were subsequently transferred to Egypt and placed in the skete monastery of Our Lady. You might be interested in: