Страдание святых мучеников Еспера и Зои

The holy martyrs Esper, his wife Zoe and their two sons, Cyriacus and Theodulus, pilgrims on earth like Abraham, the father of the elect, directing their path to the heavenly fatherland, were purchased as slaves in 2895 by Catullus, a noble Roman, and his wife Tertia. This Catullus moved from Rome to Pamphylia 2896, to the city of Attalia 2897; buying slaves for himself, as was the custom among the pagan Romans, he acquired in Phrygia 2898 of these holy martyrs, who came from a Christian family and therefore were filled with faith and hope in the Lord. The pagan family of Catullus, devoted to idolatry, made sacrifices to idols according to the custom of their faith and called them their gods. The faithful servants of Christ, seeing the vain wickedness of their masters, grieved over this and, like Christians, could not eat the food provided for them by their pagan masters, fearing to be defiled, especially since there were idols in the very house of their masters. One day Saint Zoya, having received food from her hosts, approached the gate and said to the gatekeeper: - Go to sleep and rest a little, and if you are needed, I will wake you up; you are already quite tired, since you stayed awake all night, letting in and out to our lord vain people who visit his house to worship the imaginary goddess - Fortune 2899. The gatekeeper, following her advice, walked away from the gate and fell asleep in the courtyard, and Zoya, fearing that the dogs tied nearby would not wake him up with their barking, gave them some bread, and distributed the rest of her dinner to the poor and wanderers who approached the gate, convincing them to convert to the Christian faith. Zoe's duties in the house of Catullus were to feed the domestic animals kept by her masters, while her husband and children performed all other work for the masters. They worked all day, and at sunset they ate a little food from those dishes, which they undoubtedly knew were not desecrated by pagan rituals. This food was sent to them by God's providence; eating it, they remembered the words spoken by the Lord in His Holy Gospel: “Look at the birds of the air, which do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matthew 6:26). One day, when blessed Esper was sent by his masters to do some work, his sons, Cyriacus and Theodulus, said to their mother: “We no longer wish to live with the wicked; Didn’t you yourself teach us, according to Divine Scripture, to keep the apostolic commandment: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14). If we, in obedience to the Divine Scripture, wished to keep the commandments of the Lord, but did not move away from the pagans, then we would accept the same retribution from the Lord as them and would perish like them. The mother answered her sons: - My dear children! How can you get away from them? After all, they are our masters; they also have power over our body. The sons answered her to this. “For us, Christ gave Himself into the hands of unfaithful Jews, was crucified, buried, and rose again on the third day. If we surrender our body to the power of the wicked Catullus to be tortured for the name of Christ, then even if he kills us after torture, then our souls will live forever. So, present us, rejoicing and having fun, to our lord, and whatever the Lord puts into our mouth, we will say to the lord. And both good young men, like courageous warriors of Christ, prepared for a suffering feat for Christ, waiting for an opportunity to appear before their master and confess before him the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They said to each other: “If it pleases our Lord Jesus Christ that we die for His holy name, then as a reward for this we will be worthy to see Him and will abide with Him forever.” When their mother, fearing that her children, fearing torment following the example of others, would indulge in serving idols, for this reason delayed fulfilling their request (until that time the gentlemen did not know that they were Christians), then her sons said to her: - Why are you delaying? What are you afraid of? Don't you know what the Scripture says! “I will speak of Your testimonies before kings and will not be ashamed” (Ps. 119:46). One day Catullus was returning home from somewhere at lunchtime. Both brothers, Cyriacus and Theodulus, came out to meet him and said to him: - Good hour to you, lord of our visible bodies: the lord of our invisible souls is the Lord Jesus Christ, who dwells in heaven, the true God. Catullus was very surprised at their words and said: “These young men have lost their minds: they pronounce the strange and unfamiliar name of Jesus Christ, calling him God and Lord. Then, turning to the servants, he said: - Call the father and mother of these young men to me. The servants immediately went and, not finding the father, brought one of the young men’s mother. Catullus asked her: “Didn’t you send him for some work to the village of Tritonia?” “If you were with him now in Tritonia,” said Catullus, “then you would not have confused me with your speeches about God, whom you profess, and about whom neither I nor others have ever heard anything.” However, now I don’t want to test you; but when Tertia is delivered from the burden and on this occasion I will bring a grateful sacrifice to our great goddess Fortuna, then I will test you. And he immediately ordered Saint Zoe and her children to be sent to her husband in Tritonia. The mother and children, having moved there, rejoiced and had fun, remembering in singing and conversation the words of Holy Scripture: “The Lord is my shepherd; I won't want for anything. He makes me lie down in green pastures” (Ps. 22:1-2). And again: “You delivered my soul from hell” (Ps. 86:13) and “you delivered my soul from death” (Ps. 114:7) (the saints in their souls considered the house of their master as hell, Catullus as death, idols as hellish fire). But then a son was born to Catullus. All the townspeople rejoiced and celebrated with Catullus the birthday of his son, bringing thanksgiving sacrifices to their goddess Fortune. At this time, Saint Zoe prayed to God, asking Him to give her husband and children the strength to courageously endure their feat. Meanwhile, at the end of the feast, Catullus said to his wife, Tertia: - Let all our household and slaves have fun at our holiday - Okay, let everyone have fun. They immediately sent to their servants, among whom was Esper's family, a vessel of wine from the feast sacrificed to idols and a dish of meat. Saint Zoe, seeing from afar the servants carrying the master’s gifts, sighed, saying: - Lord, the ineffable God, who guides the secret thoughts of men! Stay with us, poor wanderers: besides You, our Lord, we know no other god. Help us to firmly confess Your holy name. At these words, she walked up to the gifts they had brought and, taking the meat, threw it to the dogs, and poured the wine on the ground. The slave immediately went and told his master about this. This news greatly angered Catullus and he ordered Esper and his family to be immediately brought to his house. On the way to Mr. Zoya, encouraging her husband and children, said: “Let us not be afraid of the wrath of the wicked Catullus and the torments he has prepared for us, but we will endure them courageously, so that, having completed our feat, we will enter the heavenly kingdom of Christ and His saints.” When the saints were brought to the master's house, Catullus asked them: – Who were you hoping for protection by inflicting such an insult on me? How dare you throw our gifts to the dogs? However, I do not so much protect my honor as the honor of our great goddess Fortune. Saint Zoe answered him: – Our hope and hope is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God; the gods whom you honor are demons. “Here I will hand over your sons to torment; then we will see whether Christ, whom you call God, is able to deliver them from torment. Then the executioners, having exposed both young men, hung them on a tree and began to torment them with iron tools. Saint Zoe, looking at the suffering of her children, strengthened them with these words: – Endure suffering courageously, my children! Be patient, do not be afraid of the torment inflicted on you by the wicked Catullus. - These torments are too easy for us: tell the wicked master, let him come up with greater ones, so that with our suffering we can earn the crowns of martyrdom in the future life. Saint Zoe said to Catullus: “You torture my children too weakly; they do not feel much suffering; try to increase their suffering. Then the wicked Catullus ordered, cruelly punishing Saint Zoe, blessed Esper and their children, to throw them all into a very hot furnace, and appointed guards to guard the furnace. The holy martyrs sang and glorified the Lord in the red-hot furnace. Catullus, hearing the singing and seeing the saints unharmed, was greatly amazed at how such an elemental force of fire did not kill them and turn their bodies to ashes. Assuming that Christians tamed the elements through some kind of sorcery, he began to think about some other, more cruel, way to kill them. The Holy Martyrs were told by the Holy Spirit: - Take courage! Catullus is inventing even greater torments to destroy you. Hearing this, the martyrs prayed, saying: – God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, accept our souls in peace. And soon the saints gave up their holy souls into the hands of God. This happened in the reign of Hadrian 2900, on the second day of the month of May. The next day, the wicked Catullus and his like-minded people, coming to the oven, found the martyred bodies of the saints undamaged by the fire. The bodies lay facing the east, and their holy souls joined the ranks of the honest martyrs, Angels and Archangels. And a voice was heard from heaven: “Enter, you righteous ones, into the paradise of your Lord.” You, wicked Catullus, will go to Gehenna and will be tormented there forever in unquenchable fire. So, the wicked Catullus suffered endless torment, and heaven was opened to the holy martyrs of Christ. Through their suffering they acquired eternal joy by being with Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is due eternal glory. Amen. Slavery was very common in ancient times among the Romans, as well as among other contemporary peoples. Every more or less wealthy Roman had slaves. Among the very rich Romans, their number reached many tens and even hundreds. Pamphylia is the region of Asia Minor. Attalia is a Pamphylian city located on the southern coast of Asia Minor. It was called so after the Pergamon king Attalus II (from 159 to 138 BC), who built it. Under the name of Adalia, this city has survived to this day; has 15,000 inhabitants and belongs to Turkey. Phrygia is a region of Asia Minor. Fortuna was considered by the Romans to be the goddess of happiness and the patroness of the hearth. Emperor Hadrian ruled the Roman Empire from 117 to 138. The year of death of the holy martyrs is unknown with certainty. You might be interested in: