Страдание святого мученика Саввы Готфского

To the Church of God located in Gothia 2558, to the Church of God located in Cappadocia 2559 and to all Christians of the Orthodox Church living among all the peoples of the universe, may the mercy, peace and love of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied.” Thus begins the letter from the Gothic Church to the Cappadocian Church 2560, in which the narrative of the following life is proposed. What was once said by the holy Apostle Peter, “in every nation he who fears Him and does what is right is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:35), was fully fulfilled by Saint Savva, the martyr of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Saint Sava, being a Gothian by birth and living among the wicked and corrupt inhabitants of Gothia, so imitated the holy men and was so, like them, adorned with virtues that he shone in the world like a bright star. For he, from the days of his youth, having loved the law of the Lord, set the goal of his life in activity - to achieve the perfection of virtue, to come through the knowledge of the Son of God into a perfect man (see: Eph. 4:13). But all things work together for good to those who love God (see: Rom.8:28). And indeed, courageously resisting the devil and renouncing the vanity of the world, Saint Sava, maintaining peace with all people, reached the heavenly Kingdom and was rewarded by God with eternal bliss. In remembrance of this holy martyr and for the edification of pious Christians, we decided not to remain silent about the glorious deeds of this holy martyr, but to record the history of his sufferings. Saint Sava firmly professed the holy Christian faith, was quick to do good, was distinguished by piety, meekness, simplicity of speech, but not of reason, lived in peace with everyone, fearlessly defended the truth, blocking the mouths of pagan idolaters, was not proud, but, as befits the humble, he submitted to everyone, was silent, always answered questions calmly, without anger, took part in church singing and cared about the improvement of the church, did not put his heart into acquiring property and money, being content only with what was necessary for vital details - he was sober, abstinent in everything, and had no communication with women. He spent all his time in fervent prayer and fasting, was free from vanity, and by his example aroused everyone to a godly life, since he himself did only good, and avoided what was contrary to virtue. Until the end of his life, he maintained the faith that “works through love” (Gal. 5:6), and never ceased to fearlessly preach the name of Christ. Before being crowned with the crown of martyrdom for the confession of the holy Christian faith, Saint Sava repeatedly showed himself through his deeds to be a strong champion of true piety. When the Gothic princes and judges began to persecute Christians and persuade them to eat offerings to idols, some of the pagans agreed among themselves to offer their relatives and acquaintances who professed the Christian faith, instead of sacrificed meats to idols, in order to protect both Christians from eating idolatrous meats and to satisfy the pagan persecutors. Saint Sava, having learned about this, not only himself did not want to eat from those meats that, although they were not sacrificed to idols, were offered as sacrificed to idols, remembering the word of the Apostle: “But if anyone says to you, “This is sacrificed to idols,” then do not eat” (1 Cor. 10:28), but, standing among the people, he fearlessly said publicly: – If anyone has tasted these meats, he cannot remain a Christian. With such an admonition, the saint prevented everyone from falling into the devil’s snare. Therefore, those who came up with this deception drove Saint Sava out of their village, but soon asked him to return back. When the persecution began again, some idolaters of the same village, who made sacrifices to idols, wanted to inform the prince that there was not a single Christian in their village, and intended to confirm their words with an oath. Then again Saint Sava, fearlessly standing in the midst of the people, exclaimed in a loud voice: - Let no one swear for me, for I am a Christian! The aforementioned idolaters, having hidden their relatives who professed the Christian faith, came to the prince and swore before him that there were no Christians in their village, except one. Hearing about this, the lawless prince ordered this Christian (and this was Saint Sava) to be brought to him. When he was brought, the prince asked those present: – Does this Christian have any property? “He has nothing but what he’s wearing.” Looking at the saint with contempt, the prince said: “This man is hardly able to provide any help to anyone, nor can he harm anyone.” - Having said this, the prince ordered the saint to be taken away from there. After some time, a great persecution of Christians was again instituted by the pagans in Gothia. The day of celebrating Holy Easter was approaching, and Blessed Savva wished to go to another village to a Christian priest named Gufin, in order to celebrate the holiday of Holy Easter with him. As he walked there, a man of great stature and with a radiant face appeared to him along the way, and said to him: - Return and go to your village to the priest Sapsal. - He is not at home, because due to persecution he left the village and lives in the Greek country (Saint Sava did not know that at that time this presbyter returned to his home in order to celebrate the Easter holiday at home). Then, passing by his husband who had appeared, Savva went to the priest Gufin. This day was very windy; suddenly a large cloud appeared and snow fell so deep that Savva was unable to go further. After this, Savva, realizing that by God’s providence he was stopped on his journey, returned back, glorifying God. Arriving at the house of the priest Sapsal, he rejoiced greatly when he saw him, and told him and others everything that had happened to him on the way. And they all celebrated Easter together. On the third night of the holiday, Afarid, one of the wicked leaders, the son of Prince Rotest, suddenly attacked that village with a large horde of pagan warriors. Finding the priest sleeping peacefully in his house, he grabbed him, as well as Savva, taking him naked straight from his bed, and tied them both up. They put the presbyter on a cart and drove him away, and they dragged Savva, naked, like a newly born baby, over the thorn bushes, mercilessly hitting him with sticks and whips, and so they dragged him all the way to the city. The tormentors were so merciless and cruel to the servants of Christ! But the very cruelty of the tormentors further contributed to the manifestation of the patience and faith of the Righteous Man in all their strength. When the day came, Saint Sava glorified his Lord publicly and said to the tormentors: “Didn’t you chase me naked and barefoot and drag me through the thorns? Look now, are my feet covered in ulcers? Or are there any marks on my body from your blows? They, not seeing the slightest sign of beatings on the saint’s body, were very surprised at this. Then they took the axles from the cart and placed one of them on his shoulders, stretching his hands to the ends of the axle and tying them to it; The torturers tied the other axle in the same way to the saint’s feet. After this, the tormentors threw the saint to the ground and tormented him greatly all that day until late at night. When the tormentors fell asleep, a woman came, having gotten up at night to prepare food for her household; She freed the saint, and he stood up and began to help her in her work. When day came, Afarid again ordered the saint's hands to be tied and hanged on a crossbar in the house. After some time, messengers from Afarid came with the meat sacrificed to idols to the presbyter and Savva and said: “This is what the great Afarid tells you: eat these meats and get rid of death.” The priest answered the messengers: “We will not taste it, for it is not proper for us to eat this thing defiled by demons.” We would rather agree that Afarid crucify us or put us to death in some other way. And blessed Savva asked those who came: - One is the Lord - God who exists in heaven. Your destructive meat is unclean and vile, like that Afarid himself from whom you were sent. As soon as the saint uttered these words, one of the Afarid servants, flying into a strong rage, struck the saint in the chest with such force with the spear that was in his hands that everyone standing there thought that the martyr would die. But the martyr, protected by Divine Providence, did not receive any trace of the blow and did not feel any pain, and said to the one who struck: “You think you seriously wounded me with your spear; but I felt your blow no more than if someone had hit me with soft wool. Having learned about everything that had happened, Afarid ordered that the holy martyr Savva be put to death. Then the wicked servants left the priest Sapsal bound, took Savva and led him to the river called “Mussova” 2561 in order to drown him there. The holy martyr, remembering the commandment of the Lord to love his neighbor as himself (see: Matt. 22:39), asked his leading servants: - Why doesn’t the presbyter die with me? He, filled with joy, exclaimed: “Blessed are You, O God, and glorified is the name of Your Son forever, Amen.” For Afarid himself gave himself up to death and eternal destruction, and sent me away to eternal, endless life. Thus it pleases You, O Lord our God, that it be with Your servants. Thus, even though he was led to death, the saint did not cease to praise and thank God, considering “the sufferings of this present time to be nothing” as worthless “in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). Meanwhile the servants said to each other: “Why don’t we let this innocent man go?” After all, Afarid will not know about this if we let him go. But Saint Sava told them: -Why are you saying crazy things? Do better than what is told to you. For I see what you cannot see: here stand the holy Angels, who came with glory to take my soul. Then they brought the holy martyr to the river and, tying a large piece of wood to his neck, they threw the saint into the depths of the river and drowned him. Thus did Saint Sava repose, having preserved the purity of the holy faith until the end of his life. He lived for thirty-eight years, crowned with the crown of martyrdom on the fifth day after Easter (i.e. April 12, 2562, during the reign of Valentinian in the West, Valentinus in the East 2563 and during the reign of the anfipats 2564 Modestus and Arinthius). After some time, the executioners removed the body of the martyr from the water and threw it onto the shore without burial. However, neither animals nor birds touched this honest body, because... it was hidden by the hands of pious Christians. One of the Scythian military leaders, Iunius Saran, who revered the true God, sent devoted men, took the honorable body of the martyr from the land of the Goths and transferred it to the Greek country. Wanting to beautify his fatherland, he sent this wonderful gift and glorious fruit of faith, on the advice of the elders, to Cappadocia for your piety, the message concludes, according to the will of the Lord, who bestows His grace on those who fear Him. Commemorating the martyr on the day on which he was crowned with the crown of martyrdom 2565, proclaim this to the other brethren, so that the entire Orthodox Apostolic Church, spiritually rejoicing, glorifies the Lord, who chose such His servants for Himself. Hail all saints; All the brethren who suffer persecution with us kiss you with a holy kiss. To Him who is able, by His grace and love for mankind, to bring us into the Heavenly Kingdom, glory, honor and worship, with His Only Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit forever, amen.” The Goths are a people of the Germanic tribe who initially lived along the Vistula River, and then settled along the Danube River. At the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity began to spread among the Goths. The first preacher and planter here was Wulfila or Ulfila, the bishop of the Goths. Cappadocia is a region in Asia Minor. This letter was written by Asholius, bishop of Thessalonica and Saranos, military leader of Scythia, a native Cappadocian, around 374 on the occasion of the sending of the relics of the holy martyr Sava from Gothia to Cappadocia. The head of the Cappadocian church at this time was Saint Basil the Great, who, having received the holy relics and the message, thanked the senders for them with letters that have come down to us in his works. The Mussova River was located in Wallachia. The death of the holy martyr followed in 372. Emperor Valentinian reigned from 364 to 375, and his brother Valens from 364 to 378. Anfipat is a proconsul, the ruler of a more or less extensive state region (province). St. Dmitry of Rostov in the afterword to the life of St. Sava notes that it would be more appropriate to commemorate this martyr on April 12, but since in the prologue it is placed under the 15th, under it he also placed in the Menaion-Cheti the story of the suffering of St. Savva. 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