Память святого священномученика Александра иерея

During the persecution against Christians during the reign of Aurelian in 1954 in Pamphylia in 1955, Antoninus was hegemon. Arriving at the Pamphylian city of Sida, he ordered that the priest of this city, Alexander, be presented to the court. The hegemon subjected the servant of Christ to many tortures and torments. But first he asked him: – I am a Christian, a priest, a shepherd of Christ’s verbal flock. – Where is this flock of Christ located? – Christ God created people living throughout the universe; those who believe in Him are the sheep of His flock. Those who have fallen away from their Creator, those who serve the creation and work of human hands - soulless idols, such as you - cannot belong to His holy flock. On the Day of Judgment they will be placed along with the goats on the left side. “For two reasons I will now torment you: firstly, so that you show me those who believe in Christ and, secondly, so that you make sacrifices to our gods.” Then Hegemon Antonin again asked Saint Alexander: – Christ is the Savior of the world, Life and Light for those who believe in Him. – How can the Man Who died on the Cross be a Savior? – Indeed, it is marvelous and worthy of surprise that He, having taken upon Himself the Cross and death in the flesh, according to His will, by His Divinity, destroyed the power of hell, released those bound and those in hell from the bonds, put to death death and rose from the grave. And not only did He Himself rise from the dead, but He also raised many dead with Himself: “and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city” (Matthew 27:52–53) Jerusalem. Christ, along with Himself, resurrected the entire human race. “You are mad, because how could He help others who could not help Himself while being tormented by the Jews?” “It’s not I, but you who are going crazy, being blinded spiritually and therefore not understanding the mystery of our salvation, accomplished by Christ the Lord.” Then the hegemon ordered to torture Saint Alexander. They beat him with sinews, tormented him on the wheel, threw him into a vessel with boiling tar and oil, and burned him in a burning oven. But in all these torments the saint remained, by the grace of the Lord Jesus, unharmed. When he was thrown into the furnace, which was heated very hot, the wicked tormentors saw in the flames two young men with wonderful faces, praising God together with the holy martyr. These were the holy Angels, cooling the holy flame of the stove. The people were amazed, knowing that one person was thrown into the oven, and yet there were three there. The hegemon and those who were with him considered all these glorious miracles to be sorcery, since they did not believe in the almighty power of Christ God. However, one of the hegemon’s servants believed in Christ and, falling to the ground, bowed to the saint and begged him to allow him to be with Christ. The hegemon immediately killed this servant with a sword. When Saint Alexander emerged unharmed from the oven, the hegemon ordered him to be hanged and tormented with a sharp iron. And they tortured the saint until his body became one continuous ulcer. Those who tormented the saint were amazed at his firmness, saying: – How does this person endure such torment?! His bones were already exposed. After this, the saint was tormented by fire a second time, but did not suffer any harm from it. Then they pricked the saint’s body with iron knitting needles and pulled out all his insides. Then the saint was given over to be devoured by beasts, but the beasts did not touch him. This sufferer of Christ was tormented with many other cruel torments, but in all his torments he remained firm and courageous, so that everyone who saw his suffering was amazed at the power of his patience, which surpassed human understanding. Finally, the holy martyr Alexander was beheaded with a sword. Hegemon Antonin, who was sitting at that time in his judicial seat, was punished by God with demonic possession; he began to be tormented by his devil gods, whom he served. The servants carried him into the house, bitterly crying and sobbing along the way, but before they had time to carry him home, he gave up his damned soul. Saint Alexander settled in the heavenly villages together with Christ the Lord and His holy Angels. And the hegemon was thrown into eternal torment with Satan and his servants. After the beheading of Saint Alexander, a certain Eustathius, an honest husband, a Christian, took the long-suffering body of the holy martyr and buried him with honor, glorifying and praising Christ God. Aurelian, Roman emperor, reigned from 270 to 276. Pamphylia is a region of Asia Minor. You might be interested in: