Страдание святого мученика Еразма

Blessed Erasmus, from his youth, inflamed with love for Christ, zealously fulfilled His commandments and was appointed bishop of the city of Formia 2974. When the wicked emperor Diocletian, subjecting Christians to torture, threw the inhabitants of the cities of his kingdom into confusion, Saint Erasmus left his see and fled to the Lebanese mountains 2975, where he stayed, hiding from his persecutors, for seven years. One day he heard the voice of an Angel from heaven, who said to him: “Erasmus! No one can defeat their enemies if they sleep. Go to your city, fight courageously and defeat your enemies.” When, after these words, Erasmus set off on the path indicated to him by the Angel, he was met by soldiers and asked: “Which God do you worship?” Saint Erasmus declared himself a Christian. Then the soldiers captured him and brought him to Antioch 2976 to the Emperor Diocletian. On the road, the saint openly admitted that he was a Christian, and the emperor ordered him to be beaten with sticks, but he denounced the emperor. Then the latter ordered to beat him with lead rods and, since even after that he remained unshakable in his faith, then, by order of the tormentor, he was subjected to new torments: first they sharpened all the skin on his body with iron staples, and then they melted tar and sulfur and began to pour it on the wounds, but this did not cause him any pain. After this, the tormentor ordered heavy iron shackles to be placed on his neck and imprisoned, but the Angel of the Lord, opening the doors of the prison, freed him from the shackles and said to him: “Follow me, I will take you to Italy. There are many people and there you will lead to salvation.” After this, the Angel led Saint Erasmus to the city of Lycia 2977 and left him there. Erasmus began to teach everyone faith in Christ and baptize. At the same time, he performed great miracles, among other things, he resurrected the son of a noble man named Anastasia, and after that he baptized ten thousand people. Maximian 2978, having learned about this, sent soldiers to bring him to Italy, and when the saint was brought, he ordered him to be beaten on the cheeks and threatened him with crucifixion if he did not make sacrifices to the pagan gods. Then Erasmus said to him: “Where are your gods so that I can sacrifice to them?” The saint was brought to the church of Jupiter. Here he prayed, and through his prayer all the idols fell, and fire came out of the church and burned the idolaters, so that Maximian was forced to flee the city. After this, Saint Erasmus baptized many people here and left for the city of Sirmium 2979. In this city, by order of Maximian, he was again captured and subjected to new tortures. They put copper armor on him and sat him on a hot bed, and his legs were nailed to the ground. After this, they covered the bed with wood to the top and, having lit the wood, began to pour tar and oil on it, but the wood burned out, and the saint remained unharmed. Maximian was afraid of the people and went to the palace, and the Angel of the Lord, taking the saint, led him to the city of Formia, where many more people were baptized by him. After all this, Saint Erasmus, with a prayer of thanksgiving for everything, gave up his soul into the hands of God, 2980, and Christians buried him with honor. The city of Formia was located in Italy near the Gulf of Castania on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The Lebanese mountains are located in Syria. Antioch, the ancient capital of Syria, was located on the banks of the Orontes River, not far from its confluence with the Mediterranean Sea. The location of the city of Lycia is indicated differently. According to Nicodemus, this was the Macedonian city of Lychnis, located on the shores of the lake of the same name. Maximian Herculus, who bore the title of Augustus, was a co-emperor of Diocletian and ruled the western half of the Roman Empire from 285 to 305. The city of Sirmium was located in Illyria on the banks of a tributary of the Danube River - the Sava. The holy martyr died in 303, on July 10. At St. Pope Gregory (590–604) his relics were in Formia, and in the 9th century. moved to Kaista. You might be interested in: