Память святых девяти мучеников, в Кизике пострадавших

The city of Cyzicus is located in the Asia Minor region of Mysia, on the shores of the Dardanelles Strait 2831, separating Asia from Europe. It stands next to the city of Troas, in which the holy Apostle Paul, teacher of the pagans 2832, preached, and was enlightened by the holy Christian faith from the same Apostle. Although this city was enlightened by the light of Christianity, initially it did not have very many Christians, due to the persecution of the Christian faith from the pagans. When the wicked Roman emperors, who ruled before Constantine the Great, sent out threatening commands throughout all countries - to force everyone who professed the name of Christ to worship idols, and sent cruel hegemons for this purpose, obliged to execute in various ways and put to death everyone who did not obey the royal command - then many of the Christians fled from the city, wandering through the mountains and deserts; Other Christians lived among the pagans, but hid their faith from them; those who especially ardently loved their God and Lord, Jesus Christ, clearly, loudly confessed the name of Christ among the pagans and willingly went to various torments and death for the name of Christ. Among these latter are the nine holy martyrs now remembered, valiant men, firm in the holy faith, like Mount Zion 2833, and burning with zeal for God, like Elijah. Their names are as follows: Theognius, Rufus, Antipater, Theostichus, Artema, Magnus, Theodotus, Faumasius and Philemon. These holy martyrs came from different cities. Having gathered together in Cyzicus, they, not fearing either the formidable royal commands, or torture and death, loudly glorified Christ, boldly confessing that He is the True God, Creator and Almighty of the whole world. At the same time, they denounced and condemned the wicked teaching of the pagan idolaters, who instead of God worshiped demons, instead of worshiping the Creator of the whole world, they worshiped creatures, instead of the Living God they worshiped soulless idols, instead of the True God they worshiped false gods, instead of love for the Merciful God, who gives people every good, they made sacrifices to hard-hearted demons - the tormentors of people. Therefore, these holy martyrs exhorted the pagans blinded by unbelief to abandon their delusions and know the truth, so that, enlightened by the light of Christian teaching, they would believe in the One True God who dwells in heaven, who contains the entire universe in His power. Having learned about such daring preaching of the saints, the wicked servants of the devil took them without mercy, like wolves of sheep, and, having tied them up, presented them for questioning to the commander of the city, as if they were some kind of villains. The holy warriors of Christ courageously stood before the wicked judge. Their hearts were inflamed with the fire of love for God and zeal for His glory. Presenting themselves before the tormentor, they put on the whole armor of God (see: Eph. 6:11) in order to courageously resist the wicked judge, and especially the prince of darkness himself, with whom they were now coming out to fight. The wicked judge gave them over to various torments and tortures; More than once he imprisoned them, then took them out again and gave them over to torture, demanding that they reject Christ and sacrifice to idols. But the valiant warriors of Christ in no case agreed to renounce Christ, their God and Lord; on the contrary, they began to talk about the vanity of idolatry and reproached the judge himself for wickedness. As a result of this, after many other various torments, they were truncated as heads. Their bodies were buried near that place. A few years after this, Constantine the Great reigned, who, having received holy baptism, stopped the persecution of Christians. The light of Christian piety has now spread throughout the universe. Then the Kizian Christians with reverence removed from the ground the bodies of the holy martyrs, who turned out to be incorruptible, then they placed them in new coffins, built a church in honor of the holy martyrs and with reverence transferred their valuable treasure into it. From these holy relics, many different miracles and healings were performed: demons were cast out, the paralytic became healthy, those suffering from fever were completely healed of their illnesses. So, for example, one well-known man in the city, who suffered from dropsy, was healed of his illness by touching with faith the shrine with holy relics. In the same way, anyone, no matter how sick he was, who touched the tomb of the holy martyrs with faith, immediately received healing. Seeing this, many of the infidels turned to Christ, so that soon the whole city believed in Christ; idols and pagan temples were destroyed, and Christian temples were erected in their place; piety flourished in the city of Cyzicus, through the prayers of the holy nine martyrs who slept there. When, after the death of the pious king Constantine and his son Constantius 2834, who reigned for quite a long time, the wicked Julian the Apostate 2835 reigned, then some of the pagan Hellenes living in that city went to this emperor and reported to him against the Christians that they had destroyed all their temples and broken the altars. Hearing this, the king, although he ordered the restoration of pagan temples and idols, did not allow any oppression to be made against the Christians living in the city, since there were a lot of them (which is why he was afraid of popular indignation). However, this wicked emperor ordered the Christian bishop Eleusius to be imprisoned. When he went on a campaign against the Persians and died there, Bishop Eleusius was released, and again the light of the faith of Christ shone in the city of Cyzicus; That city was strengthened and established, like a strong wall, by the zealous intercession of those holy martyrs before God. Through their prayers may we also receive healing from our illnesses, both mental and physical, and may we also be worthy of grace and mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The firm and all-bright face of the martyr of the nine, the Trisolar Deity of the confessor, at the judgment I initially cried out: our blood and souls from our bodies, like an immaculate sacrifice, we offer to You, Master, in the faces of Your heavenly ones, as a merciful God. The Dardanelles Strait (in ancient times the Hellespont) connects the seas: Marmara and Aegean. The title: “teacher of languages” (or pagans) is adopted by St. The Apostle Paul because he preached primarily to the pagans, while the Apostle Peter preached primarily to the Jews. - Memory of St. Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29. Zion is the southwestern elevated part of Jerusalem. Here in Old Testament times a fortress was built to protect Jerusalem. Zion in Holy Scripture is often presented as the dwelling place of God Himself and, in general, a stronghold, a stronghold of Israel (Ps. 73:2, 76:3, 98:2, 109:2, 145:10, etc.). Constantius ruled the eastern half of the Roman Empire from 337 to 363. The western half of the empire at this time was controlled by: Constantius (from 337 to 350) and Magnentius (from 350 to 353). From 353 to 361, Constantius ruled both halves of the Roman Empire. Julian the Apostate ruled the Roman Empire from 361 to 363. You might be interested in: