Житие и страдание святого священномученика Никона

In the city of Naples, in the region of Campania 2078, there lived a noble and brave warrior, distinguished by his extraordinary beauty, named Nikon. His father, a Greek pagan, raised his son in idolatry; but Nikon’s mother was a Christian and always taught him the knowledge of Christ. Pointing out to him the power of the Cross of the Lord, she said: - My beloved son! If you ever happen to be exposed to danger in war, protect yourself more often with the sign of the cross - you will not only avoid captivity, but also get rid of all wounds; Neither arrow, nor spear, nor sword will hit you, and you will remain unharmed even in the most dangerous time of battle. It happened one day that Roman soldiers went to war. Nikon also had to go with his squad. During one bloody battle, Nikon was in extreme danger, on the brink of death. Seeing many of his soldiers killed, he himself expected death from the weapons of his enemies; but, remembering the words and instructions of his mother, Nikon raised his gaze to heaven, protected himself with the sign of the cross and, with a deep heartfelt sigh, said: – Christ, omnipotent God! Show now the power of Your Cross on me; From now on I will be Your servant and I will worship You and the Mother who gave birth to You. After these words, he felt extraordinary courage in himself and, rushing with a spear in his right hand, he soon killed up to 180 brave enemy warriors, and put the rest to flight, so that no one could resist him. So miraculously the power of the Cross of Christ manifested itself on him! Then Nikon glorified God, saying: – Great is the Christian God, conquering and driving away enemies with the sign of His Cross! The entire Roman army was surprised at Nikon and said: – A great miracle of God’s vision! We have never seen or even heard of a warrior who fought so bravely in war as Nikon. At the end of the war, when everyone was dismissed to their homes, Saint Nikon also returned to his home; Praising God, he told his mother what Christ the Lord had done to him in the war by the power of His Cross. In great joy his mother exclaimed: - I thank Your Most Holy Name, Lord, for You want all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth! Now hear the prayer of Thy servant and grant my son holy baptism, granted to us for the remission of sins, and teach him to do Thy will in order to please You and be worthy of the promised eternal blessings. Nikon began to ask his mother how he could become a Christian. His mother answered him: – You must fast for forty days and learn about the Christian faith from a Christian priest; then, having renounced Satan and all his works, believing in Christ God, you will be worthy of holy baptism and will be a true Christian and servant of Christ. - The Lord lives! - Nikon answered, “I’d rather be His servant than remain a pagan, idolater and warrior; I no longer want to worship a stone or any other creature, but the One God, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea and everything that is in them. Bowing to his mother’s earth, Nikon said: - My mother! Pray to God for me, your servant, may He grant me an Angel, a good mentor and guardian of my soul and body, so that under his guidance I can find such a servant of God who would grant me holy baptism and teach me to do the will of Christ, our true God, and I would be numbered among the verbal flock of Christ. O my honest mother! If your teaching had not distracted me from pagan error and led me to the knowledge of the true God, I would not have escaped Gehenna and would have been tormented in hell with all those who do not know God. And with the words: “pray for me, my mother!” he wanted to leave home. The mother, grabbing her son’s hand, begged him to return to her after receiving holy baptism and bury her, since she already felt the approach of death. Then, having prayed for him, she gave him money and, most importantly, bestowed her maternal blessing on him and sent him off to find a Christian priest; but it was difficult for anyone who wanted to become a Christian and receive holy baptism to find one at that time, due to the persecution of Christians, since all the Christian priests and teachers were hiding in the deserts and mountains. Leaving his home, Nikon came to the ship's pier and, boarding a ship, sailed to Constantinople. After Nikon’s departure, in the city of Naples, the soldiers and commanders searched for a long time for the brave warrior and, coming to his mother’s house, asked her: “Where is the son?” She answered: “I don’t know where I went!” Meanwhile, Nikon, led by the grace of God, arrived on an island called Chios 2079, climbed a high mountain there and spent 8 days in prayer, asking God to show him where to find him such a servant of the Lord who would grant him the long-desired holy baptism and teach him the sacraments of the holy faith. And so, in a dream vision, an Angel of God appeared to Nikon in the form of a saint; he handed him a staff with an image of a cross on top and ordered him to go to the seashore. Having gone there, the next morning he found a ship as if waiting for him; because the same Angel of God appeared to the shipbuilders and commanded them to wait for Nikon, who would come down from the mountain with a rod bearing the image of a cross. Thanks to a fair wind, Nikon and the shipmen landed 2 days later at a mountain called Ganos 2080, where Theodosius, Bishop of Kizichesky 2081, was hiding from persecution with many monks; he was an abbot and father for the monks. It was revealed to him by God about Nikon, and he went out with his monks to meet him at the pier. Then he brought him to his cave and, after the announcement, baptized him in the name of the Holy Trinity and introduced him to the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ. After receiving holy baptism, Blessed Nikon lived in that cave church, studying the Divine Scriptures and looking closely at the monastic life, and for his meekness he was tonsured as a monk. Some of the brethren, seeing Nikon's humility and meekness, fasting, abstinence and all-night standing without sleep in prayer and psalmody, likened him to the Angel of God; for he was patient in his work, great in love, incomparable in fasting, insatiable in learning and reading books, did not faint in nightly prayers, and was diligent and zealous in all monastic deeds; he surprised not only the brethren, but even Bishop Theodosius himself. When blessed Nikon spent three years on that mountain, the bishop had a revelation from God - the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said: - Before your death, install Nikon, whom you baptized and ordained as a monk, as bishop in your place, and entrust your flock to him; but they ordered him to move with everyone to the midday country of the Sicilian region 2082, so as not to perish the monks from the sword of the barbarians, who would soon attack this place. After this vision, Bishop Theodosius ordained Blessed Nikon first as a deacon, then as a presbyter, and finally ordained him as a bishop and, entrusting him with 190 monks, he rested in the Lord. Having completed the funeral of the bishop, Nikon boarded a ship with all the monks and sailed to the island of Lesbos 2083, where, landing at the city of Mytilene 2084, he stayed for 2 days and then sailed to the island of Naxos 2085. From there, by God's will, after 22 days he sailed to Italy; Arriving in his fatherland, the city of Naples, he found his blessed mother alive there, who, seeing him, fell on his chest with tears of joy and kissed him. Having bowed to the Lord to the ground, she said: – I thank Your Most Holy Name, Lord, that You brought me to see my son in the angelic form and episcopal dignity; and now, my Lord, hear me, Thy servant, and take my soul into Thy hands. Having made this prayer, the blessed wife immediately gave up her spirit to the Lord; everyone present glorified God and honestly buried her with psalmody. The rumor of Nikon's arrival spread throughout the city; Some of the soldiers who were his friends in the regiment also learned about this; Having come to him, they admired the beauty of his face and asked in private: - We conjure you by the power of the Most High, tell us why you showed strength and courage in the war, from magic or from something else? Teach us to be the same. - Brothers! - the saint answered them, - believe me, that neither magic nor anything else made me brave in the war, but only the help of the Honorable Cross of Christ. When I armed myself with it, no one could stand against me, for the power of God, acting in the sign of the cross, defeated all enemies. Hearing such words, those soldiers fell at the feet of the holy Bishop Nikon, saying: - Saint of God! Have mercy on us and take us with you, so that, just as in war we got rid of enemies through you, so now you and I may become partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven. And immediately, leaving their wives, children, brothers and their homes, those soldiers followed Saint Nikon; there were 9 of them. Having boarded the ship, the Monk Nikon sailed with them and his disciples to the country of Sicily and there landed at the highest mountain of Tauromenia 2086; Having landed on the banks and having walked a considerable distance, they came to the Asinos River, near which they found a large dilapidated stone bathhouse standing in a deserted place called Gigia, where they settled. The place was very beautiful and secluded, and the land turned out to be convenient for cultivation. Having planted vineyards and fruitful trees, they began to live there. The Monk Nikon baptized here those nine men, his friends in military service, and tonsured them into monastic image. Many years passed, but the persecution of Christians continued. The Sicilian hegemon Quintianus was informed by the pagans that on the Asinos River there live only men who worship the heavenly God, having Bishop Nikon as their teacher; they do not obey our laws and do not want to honor our gods. Hearing this, the hegemon was filled with anger and rage and immediately sent a detachment of soldiers to capture them all and bring them to him for interrogation. Arriving at that place, the soldiers asked: - Where is Nikon with his friends who do not obey the royal laws and do not honor the gods! - My children! Well, very well you did that you came here, for Christ, my Master, calls me and my friends to Himself. Then the brethren began to pray, asking God to strengthen them with His grace for the feat, but, forced by the soldiers, they were forced to interrupt the prayer and, accompanied by them, went to the hegemon, like sheep to the slaughter. On the way, our blessed father Nikon strengthened them with these words: - Take courage, my brothers, and do not be afraid of the tormentor, for our feat is ending, the doors of heaven have opened for us. Let us stand firmly for the faith of Christ before the fierce tormentor, let us speak boldly before him, remembering the words of our good Shepherd: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28). When the saints were brought to the hegemon for trial, the latter, looking at them with a menacing look, began to say: - Do you all feed yourselves with such vain and deceptive hope, being seduced by the sorcerer Nikon to the point that you do not honor the immortal gods and do not obey their laws? The saints unanimously answered: – We are Christians and will never deviate from our faith; We place our hope not in the vanity of life, but in the Lord God, who created heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; your gods are dumb, deaf and insensitive idols, a human product, to which all those who trust in them will be like. Seeing the strong and unchanging faith of the saints, the hegemon said: “If I do not order them to be killed soon, they may lead many others into their delusion.” Therefore, he ordered first to strip the saints naked and stretch them out on the ground, to beat them for a long time and mercilessly with ox sinews; then - to behead everyone with a sword, except Saint Nikon, by the river, in the bathhouse where they lived. Then they were taken to be beheaded. Bowing their honorable heads under the sword, the holy martyrs said: - Lord! We commit our souls into Your hands, “but for Your sake they kill us every day; they count us as sheep doomed to the slaughter” (Ps. 43:23). Thus, 199 venerable disciples of Saint Nikon were beheaded. By order of the tormentor, their bodies were thrown to be burned in a hot bathhouse, where they settled. Having shackled the Monk Nikon in chains, the tormentor thought of some cruel torture to inflict on him. That night an Angel of God appeared to the saint in prison in a dream and said: - Take courage in God, Nikon, warrior of Christ, and rejoice, for Christ our God accepted the sacrifice - 199 of your disciples in the stench of fragrance: they entered the palace in which the Heavenly Bridegroom rests. After these words of the Angel, Saint Nikon saw before him a maiden, brighter than the rays of the sun, whose clothes were made of gold and sapphire 2087; in her hands she had a lion white as snow. That maiden stood on the eastern side of the Psimif River, and on the western side stood two men of extraordinary height, whose heads touched the sky; in their hands they had fiery spears and had the following conversation with the maiden who appeared: - Why are we now standing here idle, having been sent by the Heavenly King to battle against Quintian? So we are waiting for him, but he doesn’t come. The luminous maiden said to them: - Yesterday Quintian killed 199 men, the servants of Christ, in addition, he invents the most severe torments for their teacher, Nikon, who defeated all the treachery of the devil; he will soon come to the place where you have been sent against him. Having said this, she released the lion from her hands to them, saying: “Take him, he will help you against the tormentor.” Awakening after the vision, Bishop Nikon was very happy; sending praise to God and glorifying Him, he told his servant, named Heromen, about the vision, who subsequently described his life and suffering. Talking about the vision to his youth, the saint soon predicted the fierce death of Quintian. The next morning, Hegemon Quintian ordered Saint Nikon to be brought to his court and asked him: - Who, where are you from and what faith are you, who with your magic caused the death of so many people; Because of your madness, they will no longer see either the radiance of the sun or the light of the moon. Saint Nikon answered him: - Wicked man! Not only have I already told you who I am and what faith I am, but others have also told you; You heard about this more than once from those many saints whom you killed yesterday in the blindness of your wickedness. Now I will tell you briefly: I am a Christian, I firmly and unswervingly hope in God, who created heaven and earth, who will give you over to unbearable torment for your inhuman torment and great wickedness. At these words, the tormentor, roaring like a lion, ordered to strip the saint and, stretching him out, tie him to four wheels by his arms and legs, and set him on fire from below. Saint Nikon lay on hot coals, as if on flowers, chanting to God: - You, Lord, are my strength and my refuge, delivering me from enemies who are angry with me (Ps. 17:3). - Lord, hegemon! We are exhausted: no matter how we kindle the fire and no matter how much we scorch Nikon, nothing harms him. Having stopped this torment, the hegemon ordered the saint to be tied to greyhound horses in order to drag him along the ground and tear him to pieces; but the saint, tied to the horses, extended his right hand to them and made the sign of the cross over them, and the horses immediately became meek, like sheep, and stood rooted to the spot, not moving from their place, no matter how much the servants beat them or forced them with reins and bridles. Seeing this, the tormentor became angry and ordered to cut the veins on the horses’ legs, but, by God’s command, they suddenly spoke in a human voice, like Balaam’s donkey once did: “Our God is in heaven; He does whatever he wants” (Ps. 113:11). For the sake of Saint Nikon, we also surrender to death.” Then the hegemon ordered to shackle the martyr in iron chains and throw him from a high mountain into a deep abyss. But even after this the martyr remained unharmed. An angel of God preserved him during his fall and, freeing him from his shackles, led him out of the abyss. The saint appeared again at the trial before the tormentor, healthy and unharmed. Seeing him, the tormentor was horrified and then said to him: - Nikon! How great is the care of our gods for you! Don't you see how they care about you and do not want to destroy your body? Know their mercy: make sacrifices to them and be their friend. - May you and your gods and all who trust in them be anathema. Then the hegemon ordered to beat the saint in the face with stones, pull out his tongue with pincers and cut it off; then take him to a place called Gigia, where he lived with his disciples, and cut off his head there. This is how the holy martyr Nikon was beheaded on the Asinos River under a song tree 2088 in the kingdom of Decius 2089. His body was left without burial and thrown to be devoured by animals and birds. On the day on which hegemon Quintian condemned Saint Nikon to beheading, he himself went to the city of Panormus 2090 to take for himself the property of Saint Agathia, whom he had martyred shortly before that time. And when he was crossing the aforementioned river Psimif, the horses that were with him on the transport suddenly became furious. Rushing at him, one gnawed his face with his teeth and disfigured him; another trampled him so hard that he was thrown into the river. And the accursed one drowned, ending, according to the prophecy of Saint Nikon, his wicked life in torment. When the honorable body of the martyr lay unburied at the site of the beheading, one shepherd, possessed by an evil spirit, walked in that place and, having found the body of the saint, immediately fell face down to the ground, for the unclean spirit, driven out by the power of the saint, threw him to the ground and came out of him with a loud cry: “Woe is me, woe is me, where can I run from the face of Nikonov?!” The healed shepherd went and told about this miracle to the inhabitants of that country. The bishop of the city of Messina 2091, having learned about this, went with his clergy for the long-suffering body of the holy martyr and, having found it, took it. He also found the bodies of his holy disciples in the bathhouse whole and undamaged by the fire and with honor gave them all burial along with their teacher Nikon in a famous place, to the glory of Christ our God, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. Campania is a region of central Italy. One of its remarkable cities, Naples, is located on the northern shore of the Bay of Naples. In this area, bells were first invented, which in church liturgical books are called “campans” according to their place of origin. Chios is one of the islands of the Aegean Sea or Archipelago, lying near the western shores of Asia Minor. Ganos or Gan is located on the northwestern coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara, one of the fortified places in Thrace. The region of Cyzicus with the city of Cyzicus is located in the northwestern part of Asia Minor, on the southern shore of the Sea of ​​Marmara. The Sicilian region or Sicily is one of the large islands of the Mediterranean Sea, in the south of the Apennine Peninsula, separated from it by the Strait of Messina. It is home to the world's largest volcano (fire-breathing mountain) Etna. Lesbos is an island of the Aegean Sea or Archipelago off the western coast of Asia Minor, near Media. Mytilene is the largest fortified city on the island of Lesbos, located on its eastern side. Naxos is an island in the southern Aegean Sea or Archipelago - the largest of the Cyclades group of islands. Mount Tauromenia is located on the eastern coast of the island of Sicily. Sapphire is a precious stone; it comes in different colors, but most often it is found in azure, sky, blue, and cornflower blue. Pevgov tree or pevg is a genus of coniferous tree, like our pine or spruce. Decius - Roman emperor, cruel persecutor of Christians; reigned from 249 to 251 Panormus is now the city of Palermo, located on the northwestern coast of the island of Sicily. Messina is a very significant city on the island of Sicily, on the strait separating this island from Italy, located in a beautiful countryside, abounding in orange and lemon trees. You might be interested in: