Страдание святого священномученика Садока, епископа Персидского, и с ним 128 мучеников

Saint Zadok ascended the episcopal throne in the Persian cities of Salik and Ktisiphon after Saint Simeon, Bishop of Persia, suffered there. One day Saint Zadok saw a terrible dream; Having awakened, he called to him his clergy, presbyters and deacons - at that time they were all hiding, fearing the king - and began to say to them: “That night I saw in a dream a staircase touching the heavens with its top; Saint Bishop Simeon stood on it with great glory, while I stood on the ground; Saint Simeon said loudly to me: “Come up to me, Zadok, and don’t be afraid - I came up yesterday, and you come up today.” After such a vision and the words of the saint, I believe that I will be taken to suffer for Christ; the words of Saint Simeon: “I ascended yesterday, and you ascend today,” mean that he endured suffering last year, and this year I will have to endure torture and death. After this, Saint Zadok began to teach the clergy this way: – My beloved brothers and fathers, let us love God with all our souls and our Lord Jesus Christ with all our thoughts; having put on the armor of faith, let us not be afraid of any evil, let us not be horrified if torment and death befall us - let each of us be a good warrior of Jesus Christ. If we must die, then we will die as befits perfect; if we are destined to live, then we will live like the righteous. Even if we die, we will die for our Savior, and we will not fear the sword if eternal life is revealed to us through the sword. While it is still day 1498, let us begin to work zealously for the salvation of our souls, so that we may be enriched with incorruptible blessings, receive endless honor and glory in the Kingdom of Heaven, so that our name will remain glorious in the memory of the Christian race. Brethren, let us pray to our God that He will soon fulfill what I saw in the vision. For the one who is from the spirit, with joy and great love, strives to endure torture and death for Christ and is not afraid, since he is always ready for such a feat. But the hour of death is terrible and terrible for one who is of the flesh; virtuous people themselves, with care and generosity, seek such a death in order to inherit eternal life through it; and the lazy and careless hide, seeing death before them. For those who love God ascend to God, and those who love the world remain in the world; the first leave the body for joy and joy, the second remain in this life for troubles and sighs. In the second year of the persecution, the Persian king Sapor arrived in the mentioned cities of Salik and Ktisifon; at this time the holy Bishop Zadok, whose name means “the king’s friend,” was slandered before him, and indeed he loved the heavenly King Christ with all his soul and with all his strength: he was distinguished by great abstinence and was filled with truth and faith; he imitated Saint Simeon, after whom he ascended the holy throne. Then Sapor sent soldiers to take the bishop along with his clergy; together with them many other Christians and monks were captured, 128 in total; they were all bound with iron chains and imprisoned in a dungeon, in a gloomy, stinking and terrible place. Here for five months they languished in unbearable suffering, for the wicked servants of the godless king tied each martyr all over his body with thin scourges, bending them with wood, so that the bones of the sufferers cracked and their skin cracked - such severe torment was endured by the saints. The torturers said: - Bow down to the sun and fire, do the will of the king, and you will remain alive. Saint Zadok was responsible for everyone: – We are Christians, and we worship the One God, the Creator of heaven and earth; We serve him with all our soul and all our strength; but we do not worship the sun and fire and do not honor them, for they were created to serve people. We will not listen to the royal command and will not retreat from our God, we will not be afraid of death, which leads us from this temporary and vain life to the eternal Kingdom; So, do not hesitate, kill us, do not spare our blood, which has already been shed more than once before your eyes. After this, the royal commandment came a second time to the saints: “If you do not listen to my command and do not fulfill my will, then an evil death will soon befall you.” The saints answered with one voice: - We will not perish with our God, we will not die in His Christ, for He quickens us with blessed and eternal life and gives us an immortal Kingdom for inheritance and peace; Do not delay our death, for we are ready to suffer with zeal for our God; We will not worship the sun and fire, we will not listen to the wicked royal commands, full of death and destruction. The king, seeing their firm constancy in the faith, issued a decree to cut them all with the sword. The saints, having heard about the king’s order, all joyfully began to prepare for death. They were taken outside the city. On the way there they chanted joyfully: - Judge for us, O God, and judge our dispute, deliver us from a wicked people, from unrighteous and flattering people (cf. Ps. 42:1), who shed blood, deliver us, for You, O Lord, are our hope. When they arrived at the place of execution, they all unanimously began to cry out: - Blessed are You, Lord our God, who has made us worthy of this grace; You did not despise our prayers, but gave us this most precious crown - martyrdom. You, Lord, know how much we desired him. Blessed be our God, Thy Only Begotten Son, Father, who saved and called us to eternal life. Do not leave us, Lord, to be poor in this world, but establish us before You forever for the sake of Your goodness, wash us in our blood from our sins, for You are the One Glorified God and Your Only Begotten Son and Your Most Holy Spirit forever. Amen. While the saints offered up such a prayer to the Lord, the wicked flogged them, but the martyrs continued to praise God until the last of them was killed. And the tormentors took the honest and glorious passion-bearer Zadok in chains to another city called Bethlapat, and there they cut off his honest and holy head. Thus all these holy and glorious martyrs died in the world, praising and glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory, honor and worship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. An allusion to the words of Christ: “Are there not twelve hours in the day? He who walks by day does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world; but whoever walks at night stumbles, because there is no light with him” (John 11:9–10). You might be interested in: