Страдание святых мучеников Амфиана и Едесия

The holy martyrs Amphian and Edesius were brothers in the flesh and came from a Greek pagan family. Their homeland was the city of Patara in Lycia 2354. From here they were sent by their parents to the city of Birit 2355 to study pagan sciences. Here Amphianus and Edesius spent the days of their youth in chastity, surprising all their peers with their virtuous lives. Being alien to any frivolous actions, Saints Amphian and Edesius had, according to Scripture, gray hair - wisdom, and the age of old age - an immaculate life (see Pres. 4:9), for which they were awarded the grace of God, for the light of the understanding of truth shone in their hearts: having realized the vanity of idolatry, they wanted to know the path of Christian piety as perfectly as possible in order to be slaves of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Amphian and Edesius returned from Byrit to their hometown, they found their father elevated to the rank of governor of the city and still leading an ungodly pagan life along with all his relatives. Not wanting to live among the wicked and sinners, Saints Amphian and Edesius secretly left the house of their parents and, guided by the Spirit of God, came to the Palestinian city of Caesarea 2356. Here they met a pious Christian presbyter named Pamphilus, who later accepted the crown of martyrdom for Christ. Having been taught by this holy presbyter the mysteries of the Christian faith, Saints Amphian and Edesius were enlightened by the same presbyter with holy baptism. After this, the saints constantly stayed with blessed Pamphilus, glorifying and praising God and studying the sacred books and the law of the Lord. At this time, the emperor was Maximian 2357, who took over the eastern half of the Roman Empire from his uncle Maximian Galerius 2358. This emperor cruelly persecuted Christians, because he was filled with pagan wickedness and hated the true God. He was more cruel than all the pagan Roman emperors who preceded him. During the reign of Maximian, Christians fell into great confusion, since everyone who professed the name of Christ was put to death by the wicked persecutor. Many of them, trying to get rid of torment and death, fled from their furious persecutors, leaving their homes and cities, and hid somewhere in secret places. However, there were many Christians who openly surrendered themselves into the hands of their tormentors and endured their suffering with courage. Among the latter was the courageous Amphian, although a youth in his physical age (since he was not yet twenty years old), but a hundred-year-old old man in his mind and courage. At a time when, by order of the wicked pagan emperor, people deliberately sent, having come to Caesarea, began to call each of the citizens of that city to the pagan temples to offer sacrifices to idols, the courageous Amphian, who was with the Christians in one hidden place, secretly left that place from everyone and headed to the idol temple, in which at that time the hegemon Urvanos was sacrificing to the idols. Fearlessly approaching him, Saint Amphian took him by the right hand, in which he held the sacrifice, and began to boldly exhort him loudly and boldly to abandon his delusion and not to worship demons and idols created by human hands. This daring act of the courageous Amphian confirmed many Christians even stronger in the Christian faith; but he brought the pagans, and especially the hegemon himself, into great rage. Immediately Saint Amphian was taken by the hegemon’s soldiers, like a sheep by wolves, and received from them countless blows on the mouth, face and whole body, being thrown to the ground and trampled underfoot; then the saint was taken to prison and put in chains. The next morning, Saint Amphian was brought to trial before the hegemon, who convinced him to sacrifice to idols. But Saint Amphian remained unshakable in his confession of the faith of Christ. After this, the holy martyr of Christ was given over to severe torment: the soldiers hung him on a tree and began to torment his entire body with sharp iron tools and beat him on the face, neck and sides with iron rods. The face and entire body of the holy martyr were so tormented by the torturers that even his acquaintances did not recognize him; all his ribs were broken. But even in the midst of these grave sufferings, the holy martyr of Christ did not cease to confess Jesus Christ in a loud voice, as if not hearing, not feeling his torment and suffering. Meanwhile, the tormentors aggravated their suffering: they tied the saint’s feet with flax soaked in oil and lit this flax on fire. The sufferer flared up, melting like wax. But even this torment did not frighten the holy martyr; on the contrary, filled with more and more boldness, he began to glorify Jesus Christ even more loudly, denouncing and reproaching at the same time the wickedness and atheism of the pagans. Then the holy martyr was again imprisoned. After this, on the third day after Saint Amphian was imprisoned, the torturers again began to test the firmness of the martyr’s faith with new torments. But since the saint this time remained adamant in his confession of the faith of Christ, the hegemon ordered him to be put to death, plunging him into the depths of the sea. The soldiers tied a stone to the body of the martyr and, taking him quite far from the shore, threw him into the sea. Immediately the sea became raging, the earth shook, that city shook, and all the pagans who were there were filled with great fear and horror. Then the waves of the sea carried the body of the holy martyr to the earth from the depths of the sea. Thus ended the suffering of the holy martyr Amphian, on the second day of the month of April 2359. Following this, many other Christians were taken to be tortured, and among them was Amphian’s brother, Edesius. At the same time, some of the Christians were subjected to various torments and sufferings, while others were sent by the pagans to Palestine to work in copper mines; Saint Edesius also belonged to these latter. A year later, Saint Edesius was taken from Palestine to the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Seeing here one day the pagan prince Hierocles seated at the judgment seat and overly enraged at Christians (he gave chaste virgins and Christian wives to be mocked by the pagans), Saint Edesius was filled with courage and boldness; rushing towards that prince, Saint Edesius, in the presence of everyone, hit him in the face, then threw him to the ground, continuing to beat him, reproaching him at the same time publicly for his unrighteous judgment. Immediately Saint Edesius was captured by the soldiers who were here and handed over to torture like his brother Saint Amphian. After prolonged torment, Saint Edesius was given up to the same death as his brother, being drowned in the sea. Thus Saint Edesius also received the holy crown of martyrdom together with Amphianus, having been awarded it by Christ our Savior, to Whom glory is given with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. Lycia is a region of Asia Minor. Birit is a Phoenician city, famous in ancient times as a hotbed of enlightenment and education. Now Birit, with the name of Beirut, is the main city of the Asian-Turkish vilayet of Syria, being an important trading center. Caesarea Palestine is a city located in Palestine, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. In ancient times, Caesarea was the residence of Roman procurators and the center of the country's socio-political life. In the history of the Christian Church, Caesarea in Palestine is remarkable in that here for the first time access to the Church of Christ was opened to pagans by the Apostle Peter, who baptized the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10:1–48). The last trial of the Apostle Paul took place here, after which he was sent to Rome (Acts 25:1–27:44). In Palestine there was another Caesarea, which, unlike the one mentioned, was called Philippi. It was located at the source of the Jordan Emperor Maximian, reigned from 305 to 313. Emperor Maximian Galerius ruled the Roman Empire from 306 to 311. The death of the holy martyr followed in 306. You might be interested in: