Страдание святого мученика Урпасиана

When the wicked Maximian 1789 began to reign in the Roman Empire, then, being an indomitable punisher for disrespect for the pagan gods, he tortured those Christians who lived in the vicinity of Nicomedia 1790, and against others who lived in all other places of the empire, he burned with rage like a great flame. Having once gathered like-minded people and, so to speak, his comrades-in-arms, as well as all the dignitaries who were under his authority, he said to them in a loud voice: “If any of you has given himself over to the wicked faith and service to the God of Christians and does not want to serve our glorious gods with due diligence, does not want to worship them and turn to them with prayers, let him immediately take off his belt in front of everyone 1791 and move away from our court and from our city, for the inhabitants of this city, since the time of their ancestors, have become accustomed to serving the gods, and not the One Crucified God. From these words it was clearly evident with what contempt the lawless king treated the Christian faith. Therefore, all who believed in Christ then came into fear and horror, and some of them sincerely promised the king to serve the gods, others only to avoid torture, and those who had true love for God, not caring about their bodies, responded to the words of the tormentor by taking off their belts and leaving him. At this time, the wise and strong-willed Urpasian, being one of the royal dignitaries, inflamed with zeal for God, approached the lawless king and, throwing down his robe and belt before him in front of everyone, said: “King, since from this day I am a warrior of the heavenly and immortal King, the Lord Jesus Christ, my God, then take back the signs of honor and glory that you gave me, for this honor and glory are temporary, and I no longer need them. These words of Urpasian were so unexpected for Maximian that, having heard them, his face changed and for a long time he could not utter a single word. Then he rubbed his face and, looking with fury at the holy martyr, growled like a wild beast, saying: “Now hang this despicable man and beat him on the body with ox sinews.” The king's command was immediately carried out, and when the holy martyr was given over to long and merciless torture, he turned his gaze to heaven, prayed and did not feel any pain. After this, the tormentor ordered the saint to be taken down from the tree and said to those present: “Imprison this traitor in a dark dungeon until I figure out what kind of death to put him to death.” In prison, the holy martyr rejoiced and had fun, sending up his prayers to the Lord. Meanwhile, Maximian ordered to bring and prepare for torment a certain tormenting instrument, which was an iron cage, and, having taken the saint out of prison, place him in this cage, hanging him at the top of it. When this command of the king was fulfilled and Saint Urpasian was already hanging, the cruel tormentor ordered torches to be lit and his body to be scorched from all sides. And while this was happening, the holy martyr of Christ, hanging inside the cage, indulged in prayer, the tormentors burned him with torches until his whole body dropped into drops on the ground and, melting like wax, mixed with the dust of the earth, and his bones were incinerated and became like dust on a threshing floor. When the holy martyr, immersed in prayer, was thus burned, the air was filled with the fragrance of peace, and finally his holy soul in the form of a bright star, as some of the believers were privileged to see, ascended to God 1792. Then the fierce and hard-hearted king, still burning with anger at the holy martyr, ordered the earth on which his body had been dug up and where the dust from his bones lay to be carefully collected, and poured with him into the sea. All this happened in the city of Nicomedia. Here, of course, is Maximian Galerius, son-in-law and co-ruler of Diocletian in the east of the Roman Empire. At his insistence, in 303 Diocletian issued a general law against Christians, but even before the publication of this law, Galerius privately persecuted Christians: he removed them from his court, expelled them from military service, etc. Nicomedia - the capital of the eastern empire, the residence of Emperor Diocletian; a magnificent city on the shores of the Propontis (Sea of ​​Marmara) in the northwestern Asia Minor region of Bithynia. In the Roman Empire, the belt served as a special distinctive sign of a military leader. The holy martyr Urpasian died around 295. You might be interested in: