Житие святого отца нашего Льва, епископа Катанского

The saint of God Leo, the son of noble and pious parents, came from the region of Ravenna 1495. For his pure life and mind, he was awarded all the sacred degrees in order, and after the repose of Blessed Savin, Bishop of Catania, he was elevated to the episcopal throne by the election of God. The city of Catana is located on the island of Sicily, not far from Mount Etna, which still spews fiery lava. Having accepted the episcopal throne, Saint Leo took upon himself all the labors corresponding to his new rank. He cared for orphans, beggars, widows, the sick, the strange, feeding and clothing them at the expense of church estates, and healed their ailments with his prayers; he was a merciful father to his children and a faithful shepherd of his flock, but for demons and their servants he was terrible, like a lion for wolves. In his days there was a certain sorcerer in Catana, named Iliodor; he was the son of believers in Christ and pious parents, and he himself was enlightened by holy baptism, but then he secretly rejected Christ and began to serve demons, having learned sorcery from a Jew. Thus, he was considered a Christian, but in reality he was a pagan, a servant of demons and a great sorcerer, no better than that ancient sorcerer Simon, whom the holy supreme Apostles Peter and Paul put to death with their prayer; Iliodor was similar to him in everything: performing amazing magical miracles, he, through his suggestion, achieved that it seemed to people as if rivers were flowing on dry land, on paths and stacks, so that citizens of both sexes, naked, crossed the river in the middle of the city, as it seemed to them; he turned stones into gold, but only for a short time; in the marketplaces, with his sorceries, he caused great losses to the merchants; With his magic, he so aroused noble maidens, daughters of honest and high-ranking citizens, to carnal sin that they, forgetting shame, left their homes and parents and ran to various places for the sake of fornication. When hegemon Lucius made a report about him to kings Leo and his son Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 1496, the kings sent an order to take him; but Iliodor himself surrendered into the hands of the people who were looking for him; he boarded a ship with them in Catana and on the same day landed at Constantinople, sailing in one hour such a distance that only people who sail from the West - from Sicily to the East - to Thrace have any idea. Appearing before the kings, he was condemned by them to death, but immediately became invisible before the king’s eyes and appeared again in Katana; Having been called to Constantinople for the second time and condemned to be beheaded with a sword, the sorcerer again became invisible at the very time when the warrior, raising the sword above his head, waved it strongly, so that the sword hit only the air; and again this sorcerer found himself in Katana. Saint Leo of Christ often urged him to give up such evil deeds and, having repented, turn to God, but it was impossible to persuade Iliodor, just as it is impossible to make an Ethiopian white and turn a hard stone into soft wax. The wicked man not only did not correct himself, but also conceived an even greater evil: he extended his sorcery to the bishop of God himself, wanting to mock him with his sorcery. Once, on the solemn day of one holiday, the saint, in the presence of all the people, performed a Divine service in the church with all his clergy; The sorcerer Iliodor also entered the church, like a hypocritical Christian, and began to secretly perform his sorceries; through them he achieved that some of the people began to stamp their feet in the church like horses and growl like animals; others began to laugh uncontrollably, and others began to get angry; The sorcerer boasted that he would also do something so that the bishop himself with all his presbyters and clergy, having stopped serving, would immediately jump and dance, as if to the sounds of music and organs. The saint of God, understanding the thoughts of Iliodor, knelt before the throne of God and, having prayed earnestly, stood up, left the altar and, taking the magician by the neck with his omophorion, tied him up, and, then leading him out of the church into the middle of the city, commanded the people to immediately bring more wood and build a strong fire. When his order was fulfilled, the saint asked Iliodor about all his sorceries and enchantments, and after that, holding him bound with his omophorion, he entered the fire with him and, being in the midst of the flames, held him and did not leave his place until the wicked sorcerer was completely burned; after this, Bishop Lev of God, returning to the church, completed the Divine service. This glorious miracle horrified everyone, for while holding the sorcerer in the flame, the saint himself not only did not get scorched in the fire, but even the fire did not touch his holy vestments: the dew of the Holy Spirit surrounded him in the flame and protected him from scorching; rumors about this spread to all ends of the earth; The kings, having learned about such a miracle, called the saint with great honor to their place in Constantinople and, falling at his honest feet, begged him to pray for them. Entering the royal chamber, the blessed one carried burning coals on his clothes, and his clothes were not scorched. And this great saint of God performed many other miracles: he gave sight to the blind, healing to the sick, cast out demons from people, destroyed an idol’s church with his prayer and overthrew idols with his word; Finally, in old age, he reposed himself in the Lord. At this very time, a bleeding woman from the Syracuse region 1497, a senatorial family, came to the city of Catana to the saint; For a long time she suffered from a bleeding disease: the doctors already refused to treat her; hearing that the holy Bishop Leo, through his prayer, was giving people healing from illnesses, she came to ask the saint to pray for her; while she was entering the city gates, she heard a bell ringing for the dead, and when she asked who had died, she was told that the holy Bishop Leo had reposed; filled with deep pity, she went to the deceased and, as soon as she touched his bed, her bleeding immediately stopped and she was completely healed. The holy body of Bishop Leo was laid in the church of the holy martyr Lucia; which healed various ailments for the glory of Christ our God. Like a great lamp, the Church, O all-blessed, shines upon you more than the sun, preserve with your prayers, O blessed, invincible and unshakable from all heresies, and undefiled, like one of ever-memorable. Ravenna is now an Italian province on the Adriatic Sea. Leo IV the Wise (717–741); his son Constantine reigned from 741 to 775. Syracuse is one of the first Greek colonies on the eastern coast of the island of Sicily, founded, according to legend, by the Corinthians around 735 BC. Nowadays it is an Italian province. You might be interested in: