Память святого священномученика Ферапонта, епископа Кипрского

This Saint Ferapont was a monk and served as a bishop on the island of Cyprus in 3449. During the persecution raised by the pagans against Christians 3450, he courageously confessed the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted the crown of martyrdom 3451. His venerable relics initially rested in Cyprus, where they exuded miracles to everyone; but later they were transferred to Constantinople for the following reason: when the Hagarians, by God’s permission, devastated all the eastern countries for our sins, captivating their inhabitants, they approached the island of Cyprus, intending to do with it the same thing as they did with the other eastern countries. At this time Saint Ferapont appeared to the sexton of his church and said to him: - Go quickly, take my relics and bring them to Constantinople, since the enemies of the Cross of Christ want to come to this island and devastate it; tell other Christians about this, so that they can leave here before the Hagaran invasion. Immediately the sexton told all Christians about the appearance of the saint and his order; Soon the Christians prepared to travel by ship; Having prepared a new reliquary, they placed the honorable relics of Saint Ferapont in it and, taking them with them to the ship, set off on a journey. When the travelers had covered most of the sea and were already approaching Constantinople, a great storm suddenly arose at sea; everyone fell into great fear and confusion; but at this time a great fragrance began to emanate from the shrine with the relics (as if some thin vapor); this fragrance not only filled the entire ship, but also spread across the sea into three stages around the ship: and immediately the storm subsided, as if pacified by that wondrous and indescribable fragrance. The sexton, who lovingly guarded the honorable relics of the holy martyr, heard a voice coming from the shrine and calling him to it. Finally, everyone around heard this voice, with which Saint Ferapont called to himself the guardian of his relics; then everyone approached the shrine with horror and reverence in order to see the relics of the holy martyr. Approaching the shrine, everyone saw the fragrant myrrh coming from the relics of the holy martyr and filling the entire shrine. The Christians who were on the ship scooped this ointment into glass vessels and anointed themselves with it with faith to heal their souls and bodies. Having reached Constantinople, the Christians placed the venerable relics of the holy martyr Ferapont in a church built in honor and glory of the Most Holy Theotokos 3452. All this happened during the reign of Nikephoros 3453. After some time, due to the many miracles that came from those venerable relics, Christians built another church in the name of the holy martyr Ferapont; The honorable relics of the saint of God were transferred to this church. Of the many miracles performed by the saint of God Ferapont, only a few are recorded. Let us give stories about some of them. A certain man, an Italian by birth, named Florinus, being tormented by a legion of unclean spirits, received healing at the relics of Saint Ferapont and returned to his home completely healthy. He said that he saw, as it were, some thin vapor, very fragrant, emanating from the reliquary of the honest relics; The demonic legion could not bear this fragrance, which is why they fled from it, as if being persecuted by someone. Anastasius, a citizen of the city of Vixinia, for a long time had a withered hand that hung on his shoulder as if dead. But when he came to the church of the holy hieromartyr Ferapont on the eve of the Epiphany of the Lord, he received complete healing: his hand grew stronger and became healthy, like the other: in the presence of everyone, Anastasius took the vessel with his healed hand and filled it with baptismal water. Everyone, seeing this, thanked God, glorified in His holy saint Ferapont. There was another husband named George, with the rank of foreman 3454, a warrior; By the deceit of the devil, his face was turned back and he was blind in one eye. This George, having prayed at the tomb of the martyr, received a quick healing: his face turned to its old place and his eye began to see, for which George gave thanks to his unpaid doctor. One paralytic, named Theodore, was brought to the church built in honor of the holy martyr. The saint appeared to him in a dream and gave him bread and a cup of wine. He, having taken it from the hands of the saint in a dream, immediately woke up and felt strength in himself; rising from bed, he glorified the Lord Jesus Christ and His holy martyr, saying: – Oh, how easily and quickly you, Saint Ferapont, heal all sorts of ailments and illnesses! One girl was brought to the church of the holy martyr, whose legs had grown together since birth, bent backwards and fused to her back; but after her parents offered a fervent prayer to Saint Ferapont, the girl’s legs immediately returned to their usual position; they stretched out and separated, so that the maiden, having come to perfect age, walked glorifying and thanking God. One woman, named Mary, had an incurable disease on her body called cancer; Suffering grievously and already despairing of recovery, Mary hurried with fervent prayer to the tomb of the holy martyr and here received a quick and complete healing from her illness. Another woman, who had suffered from bleeding for seven years, ran with fervent prayer and faith to Saint Ferapont, and as soon as she touched his tomb, her bleeding immediately stopped, and she returned to her home in full health. Another woman, suffering from dropsy, having come to the relics of Saint Ferapont, saw in a dream vision the holy martyr anointing a sore spot on her body with some ointment. When she woke up, she saw that a lot of pus had flowed out of her sore spot, after which she felt completely healthy. Stefan the warrior, from the Armenian regiments, suffered greatly in body; he was crumpled and bent to the ground; in the same way, another warrior named Theodore suffered from the same illness. When both resorted to the help of the saint of God and brought him warm prayers, they received complete healing. One leper, coming to the saint’s tomb, was cleansed from leprosy through his prayers and gave thanks to God. A certain philosopher, who had a dangerous and very large abscess on his chest, when he came to the saint’s tomb and dozed off here, he saw that the saint had applied a plaster to the sore spot on his chest. Waking up from sleep, he felt significant relief from his illness, and a day later he was completely healed of it, for which he thanked God. Many other ailments and diseases were healed by the anointing of the world that came from the honest relics of the saint of God Ferapont; in the same world demons were cast out from people, the dying returned from death to life; and all this was done through the prayers of the holy martyr Ferapont, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom glory is given forever. Amen. The island of Cyprus was located in the northeastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, near the shores of ancient Phenicia. Christianity was planted here by the Holy Apostle Paul. One should understand the persecution of Diocletian (reigned from 284 to 305). The time of the death of Saint Ferapont is determined by the persecution of Diocletian. The day of his death is unknown. May 25 is, in all likelihood, the day of the transfer of his relics to Constantinople. This church was built in honor and glory of the icon of the Mother of God of Elena or the Merciful. The celebration in honor of this icon of the Mother of God takes place in the Orthodox Church on November 12. Emperor Nikephoros I reigned from 802 to 811. The transfer of the venerable relics of the holy martyr Ferapont followed in 806. That is, a leader over 10 warriors. You might be interested in: