Страдание святого священномученика Василия, епископа Амасийского 2786

After the death of the wicked monster, the Roman king Maxentius 2787, who, as an enemy of God, was struck down by the power of the Cross of the Lord, which appeared in heaven to Constantine the Great, and died, like Pharaoh once, in the abyss of water, the Roman kingdom in the west finally sighed after cruel executions. In the east, persecution of Christians continued from another enemy of God, Emperor Maximian 2788, who blasphemed the true God and cruelly persecuted the faithful servants of Christ. The blessed Tsar Constantine sent Licinius 2789 against him to the east, marrying his sister to him. Licinius then believed in our Lord Jesus Christ and, with the help of God, so defeated Maximian that the latter barely escaped with a small detachment; but having escaped from the hand of Licinius, he did not escape from the hand of God. When he was hiding in the Cilician city of Tarsus 2790, suddenly his whole body was covered with incurable wounds, so that from unbearable suffering, like fire, he threw himself on the ground, his body, like melted wax, fell off in pieces from the bones, and his sinful soul was held only in a skeleton without body and blood. Finally, the bones began to fall away from one another with excruciating pain, and he, confessing that in his wickedness and cruelty he had persecuted and killed the innocent servants of Christ, cursed his gods and died. Licinius, having taken possession of the entire east, solemnly entered Nicomedia with his wife. At first, peace and silence reigned everywhere to the joy and joy of the faithful, who had rested after the cruel persecution of Maximian, but the enemy of all good things - the devil - again plunged Christians into a sea of ​​sorrows. Licinius, having strengthened himself in the east, retreated from Christ God and returned to the abominable idolatry in which he was raised. It was only in order to share the throne with Constantine and marry his Christian sister that he accepted the faith of Christ and swore to Constantine never to renounce Christianity, but to always defend it. Then, having become the eastern emperor, he forgot the mercy of Christ God, who helped him defeat Maximian and take possession of the east, forgot the good deeds of Tsar Constantine, turned away from him, as well as from Christ, and became his evil enemy. In Nicomedia, he openly rejected Christianity, began to worship idols and ordered the restoration of pagan sacrifices everywhere, and again began to persecute the faithful. First of all, he expelled all Christians from the royal chambers: dignitaries, servants, and squires, began to laugh at Christ’s mercy, returned to pagan beliefs and indulged in carnal sins without shame. He was mired in debauchery and forcibly seduced senatorial wives and daughters, especially Christian women, into fornication in order to violate the saints and Christ God himself. Seeing this, his wife, a faithful Christian named Constance, grieved with all her heart and secretly told her brother Constantine about everything in letters. Among her maids in the palace there was one maiden, beautiful in face and chaste, named Glafira, a Christian who came from a noble Italian family. Licinius saw her and, fueled by unclean lust, ordered the eldest of the bed eunuchs, named Venignu, to inform her of his passion. Venign told Glafira that the king, showing her great honor, fell in love with her, wanted to see her and ordered to prepare to receive the king. But the pious girl, carrying the fear of God within herself, was indignant at such a proposal and drove the eunuch away in shame, reproaching him for shamelessness and lawlessness. Fearing to arouse the suspicion and jealousy of the queen, Glafira told her everything and begged her in these words: “For the sake of the Lord, who created heaven and earth, Whom you fear and Whom your brother Constantine faithfully serves, do not allow my virginity to be violated by a lawless libertine.” Hearing such words, the queen passionately fell in love with Glafira for her chastity and fear of God and began to think about how to hide her. When the king asked about her, the queen ordered a rumor to be spread in the palace that Glafira had gone crazy and was lying sick, near death. The rumor reached the king, and he stopped thinking about Glafira. Then the queen, after waiting the time, secretly released the pious Glafira from the palace, endowing her with an abundance of gold, silver, precious stones, rich utensils, the best clothes and all sorts of other things. Having assigned many male and female slaves to serve her, the queen entrusted her to the care of some of her honest and pious servants, ordered them to escort the girl to Armenia, without saying a word to anyone about her, and to live there until God changes circumstances for the better. The servants gave the queen their word to carry out the order with the greatest caution. They dressed Glafira and her servants in men's clothing and led them safely out of Nicomedia. After a long journey, approaching Armenia, they reached the city of Amasia, where the Metropolitan of Pontus lived. The beauty of the city captivated Glafira; she invited her companions to stay in it if there were Christians there, and ordered them to question passers-by. I came across a young man who lived in the house of a respected Amasian citizen, Quintius. This young man guessed that the wanderers were Christians looking for their fellow believers, and informed his master about this. Quintius himself immediately went out to the travelers and invited them to come to his house and live there as long as they wished. He said that he himself was a Christian and that there were many Christians in the city, and that they had a venerable bishop, like the Apostles. The wanderers listened to these words with joy and went to Quintius, who provided them with a separate quiet room for housing. They were also visited by the bishop of the city, named Vasily, about whom we are going to talk, an eloquent man, gifted with spiritual virtues. He asked the strangers who they were and where they came from. The chaste Glafira told the whole truth - that she was from Italy, professed the Christian faith, was a servant of the sister of Tsar Constantine, the wife of Tsar Licinius, and also told about the reason for her wandering. Having listened to her story, holy Bishop Basil and Quintius forbade her and her servants to go out of the house or talk to anyone, so that the ruler of the city would not find out about her and all the Amasian Christians would suffer trouble because of her. At that time, Saint Bishop Basil was building a church inside the city, since Christians had only a small church outside the city. Blessed Glafira gave the bishop a lot of gold and silver for the church building, everything that the queen gave her, leaving nothing for herself. She wrote to the queen where she was hiding and in whose house she lived; I also wrote about the construction of the church, asking for more gold to be sent to complete the work and decorate the church. The queen gladly fulfilled the request, sent abundant gifts to the church and the bishop, and in a letter entrusted the chaste Glafira to the care of Saint Basil. After a short time, through the machinations of the devil, it happened that Glafira’s letter to the queen fell into the hands of the bed-keeper Venign, who thus learned that the girl, whom everyone considered dead, was alive and was in Amasia. Venignus conveyed all this to Licinius, who, in terrible rage, wrote to the ruler of the city of Amasia an order to put the Christian bishop Vasily and the Tsarina’s slave Glafira in chains and immediately send them to Nicomedia. But by the will of God, the blessed and holy virgin Glafira died before the order reached the Amasian ruler. Then the ruler chained and sent Vasily alone to Nicomedia, and reported about Glafira that she had already died. Together with the bishop, two deacons, Parthenius and Theotimus, went from Amasia, enduring much suffering on the way from wicked and cruel warriors. In Nicomedia, God's servant Basil was imprisoned, and Parthenius and Theotimus settled not far from the prison with a strange-loving Christian named Elpidiphoros. Having learned everything about Saint Basil, Elpidiphoros bribed a prison guard he knew with gold in order to gain access to the bishop, himself, and both deacons. So they often came to Saint Basil, sang sacred hymns every day, and prayed earnestly at night. On the eve of the day when he was to appear before the king for interrogation, the holy bishop called the watchman and asked to summon the deacons and Elpidiphoros. The jailer willingly carried out the order. Then Basil began to sing the psalms of David, as usual, starting with the psalm “Remember, O Lord, David and all his contrition” (Ps. 132:1). When he came to the words: “If I take the wings of the morning and move to the edge of the sea, Thy hand will lead me there, and Thy right hand will hold me” (Ps. 139:9-10), he repeated them three times, raising his hands. Seeing the sadness and tears of the one praying, the deacons doubted whether the bishop was afraid of the upcoming torment. But he knew the meaning of these words, predicting that his body, after the head was cut off, would be thrown into the sea. Having finished singing psalms, already at dawn, the bishop said to the deacons: “My brothers, at the instigation of the devil, cruel temptations await us. But do not be afraid, do not faint from suffering, stand courageously and unshakably for the faith, so as not to be put to shame on the day of the coming of the Lord. With your spiritual eyes, cheerfully turn to the One who alone can save us, who can turn sorrow into joy, crying into joy, tears into laughter, labor into peace. Consider all the blessings and pleasures of life as insignificant for the sake of the Son of God Jesus Christ, so that together with all the saints you may be heirs of His Kingdom. Know, my children, that on this night the Lord Himself appeared to me and announced what end of life awaits me and how much of His glory will manifest itself through me, the servant of God. So, you do not grieve, but return back to yourself and strengthen your brethren in the spirit of Christianity. Instead of me, elect Eutyches, son of Callistus, as bishop. God told me so; He will give you my sinful body. The deacons wept bitterly. The bishop, still speaking the usual teaching, urged them to return to Amasia. He addressed Elpidiphorus with the following words: - My brother! You have been chosen by God to serve strangers and for your love you will receive an eternal reward in heaven. I entrust you with these two spiritual children of mine, do not leave them, but share their grief. When God calls you to His service, then work hard. When the saint released Elpidiphoros and both disciples, the king called him to him for interrogation and, first of all, began to accuse him that, having received Glafira to himself, he hid her, and did not report her to the king. The holy bishop immediately gave a worthy answer with such courage that he angered the king and was again taken to prison. Then Licinius sent him the tribune 2791 with a promise not only to forget the incident with Glafira, but to shower him with honors, even appoint him senior over all the priests of the city if the bishop made sacrifices to the gods. The saint of God Vasily answered the tribune: - Convey my words to the king. Even if you wanted to give me the whole kingdom, then this cannot be compared with what you want to take away from me: you are tempting me to retreat from the true God and serve demons - the destroyers of the soul, to renounce immortal glory and enjoy temporary and fleeting honors, the brilliance of which is disgusting to me, which lead not to light, but to hopeless darkness. But if you want to listen to my good advice, then you better obey me for your crime and return, as before, to Christ, from whom you rejected. Fall with humility at the feet of Him, the merciful God, our righteous Savior. Repent, step back from your wickedness, so that the righteous Judge, Whom you called God and Whom you denied, will not punish you for your madness. Having heard such words of the saint from the tribune, Licinius ordered again to exhort the bishop to obey the king, and if he refused, then he should be thrown into the sea, cutting off his head. “Then let’s see,” he said, “whether the Galilean 2792 will save him.” The tribune again came to the saint and said to him: – Choose between life and death; obey the king and bow to his gods, or you will immediately be beheaded and thrown into the sea. Hearing such threats, the saint joyfully exclaimed: “I want to serve only my immortal King and God and I obey only His commandments. And whom you call gods, these are demons, who, together with their admirers, my true and only God, the Lord of all, will be cast on the day of righteous Judgment into unquenchable hellfire, into hopeless darkness, where they will cry and gnash their teeth. Do with me what you want. I am ready to accept for Christ not only beheading by the sword and drowning in the sea, but also countless other torments. Until my last breath, I will not renounce God, my Creator, and will not be subject to eternal fire. Convinced from these words that admonitions were useless, the tribune ordered the saint to be beaten, and then beheaded and thrown into the sea. In the same way, many Christians, especially the shepherds of the flock of God, were given over to death and became prey for fish. The martyr of Christ Basil accepted the blows with joy and exclaimed: - No torment - neither pain, nor prison, nor fire, nor sword, nor death itself can separate me from the all-merciful God. He is powerful to deliver me from all torment. On the way to the place of execution, the holy martyr sang the psalms of David. Following him came Elpidiphoros with the deacons and some Christians. When everyone reached the appointed place, Elpidifor gave the soldiers several coins and began to ask them to allow Vasily to talk a little with his friends. The warriors agreed. Kneeling on the seashore and raising his hands, the faithful servant of Christ began to pray in these words: “Lord, my God, who created the heavenly incorporeal forces, who spread out the sky like a skin, who established the earth on the waters, who created the sea, who is everywhere and always present, merciful to those who fear You and keep Your commandments, hear my prayers and preserve Your faithful flock, the shepherd of which You have made me, Your insignificant servant, from all adversity, from Hellenic wickedness, from the slander of people, those who blaspheme you. Destroy, O Almighty, the service of idols, destroy the machinations of the devil, and magnify and increase Your holy Church. Bring this city and all the surrounding ones to unanimity and unanimity, so that everyone confesses You, the true God. Make all people zealous for good and serving You, so that the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit may be glorified in all, now and always, in all ages. Amen. Having finished the prayer, the saint hugged and kissed Elpidiphoros and both deacons, addressing them with the same words with which the great Apostle Paul once greeted the Ephesian priests (See Acts 20:28–36): – Blessed be God, who did not allow us to become prey to invisible enemies, but who crushed their machinations and delivered us; now the enemies will not dare to tempt us. Bow down from me to my brothers and spiritual children. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Then the holy martyr said to the executioner: “Friend! Do what you are ordered,” he knelt down again and joyfully extended his neck under the blow of the sword, completing his pious feat. When the saint was beheaded, Elpidiphoros, giving gold to the soldiers, begged them not to throw the martyr’s body into the sea, but to give it to him for burial. But the soldiers did not agree, saying that they were afraid of the king, who would execute them by death for this. Then Elpidiphoros asked only for the bishop's head, but was again refused. And so the soldiers put the body and head of the martyr in a fishing boat, sailed far from the shore and threw the body into the water in one place and the head in another. Christians watched from the shore and wept bitterly, and among them the priest from Nicomedia, John, who saw and subsequently described the entire feat of the holy martyr. Christ's faithful servant Elpidiphoros took both deacons back to his home and consoled them as much as he could. That same night he had a Divine vision in a dream; An angel appeared to him and said: – Bishop Vasily is now in Sinop and is waiting for you there. Take his deacons and go on a ship to him. The vision was repeated three times during the night. Elpidiphoros told the deacons about this and asked them if they knew what kind of area or city Sinop this was. Parthenius replied: – Sinop is a seaside city where the Holy Apostle Andrew preached the teachings of Christ. And I saw Saint Basil in a dream. It seemed to me that he gave his hand to the Apostle, entered the church with him and said to me: “What you see will come true.” Then Elpidiphoros, taking with him enough gold and everything necessary for the journey, boarded a ship with the deacons and sailed to the city of Sinop with fervent prayer that God would explain the dream vision. When the ship was approaching Sinope, Elpidiphorus again saw the Angel in a dream, who said: – On the right side of the city, cast a net into the sea, and you will find the jewel you are looking for. Pointing to the place with his finger, the Angel also showed signs of how to find it. It seemed to Elpidiphorus that he saw a bright palace there, and in it Vasily with many brilliant warriors. “Do you see,” the Angel continued, “the one you were looking for? Take it in the morning." Rising from sleep, Elpidifor told his companions about the vision. Early in the morning they went to the right side of the city and, according to the signs indicated by the Angel, found a place. There they saw fishermen preparing their nets to catch fish. Elpidiphoros said to these fishermen: “We will pay you whatever you want if, for the happiness of each of us, you cast your nets and give us what you catch.” The fishermen agreed and agreed on a price. Elpidiphoros and the deacons cast lots as to whose luck it would be to cast the first net. The lot fell on Theotimus. They threw the net, but didn't catch anything. Then they tried Parthenius’ happiness, and again unsuccessfully. Then Elpidiphoros exclaimed: “I order you to cast the net not in my name, but in the name of my God, and I trust in Him that the fishing will not be fruitless.” When they began to pull out the net, the fishermen felt the heaviness and began to say to each other: “This man’s god is happier than other gods.” Having pulled out the net, the catchers saw the body of a dead man, and, on the contrary, they began to say that catching Elpidiphorus was the most unlucky. They wanted to throw the corpse back into the water, but Elpidiphoros and his companions objected and demanded that the fishermen give the body for a decent burial, and take the agreed payment. The fishermen refused the money, saying that they had caught a corpse, not a fish, but finally, at the insistence of Elpidiphoros, they took it. The body of the saint was carried ashore, and the deacons and Elpidiphorus reverently touched it with joyful tears. They were amazed at the miracle, seeing that the head, separated by the executioner from the body and thrown separately into the sea, was in its place, and the trace of the sword remained only as a scar on the neck. A wonderful fragrance emanated from the body of the martyr. The Christians wrapped the remains of the saint in clean funeral clothes, hired a chariot, took them to Amasia, and there, after mourning, they honestly buried him in the church he had created. Such a feat of martyrdom was accomplished by Saint Basil, Bishop of Amasia. Soon after his death, the great Tsar Constantine, having learned from his sister’s secret messages about the debauchery, apostasy and cruelty of Licinius, went against him with a large army and, with the help of God, defeated him. Licinius was captured alive and imprisoned in Gaul, where he died an evil death. The entire East got rid of the violence of the tormentors and freely served Christ our God. Throughout the universe spread the glory of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the One God in the Trinity, to whom may honor and worship be from all in all ages. Amen. Having defied the king's command, you received the Kingdom of Heaven, Vasily, and rejoicing in it, remember us, who honor your memory, holy martyr. Amasia is a small city in Asia Minor, on the shores of the Black Sea. The son of Maximian, Roman emperor in 306–312, was defeated by Constantine the Great and drowned in the Tiber. Known for his cruelty. Roman emperor who ruled Syria and Egypt from 305–313. Emperor from 312 to 324 An ancient city in Asia Minor. Head of a military detachment. You might be interested in: