Память святой мученицы Феодосии

About Saint Theodosius of Tyre 3507 Eusebius 3508, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine 3509, an eyewitness, reports the following: “While in our country the persecution raised against Christians by wicked idolaters had been continuing for five years, on the seventeenth day of the month of April, on the very day of the feast of the Resurrection of Christ, one pious and God-fearing a girl from our city, says Eusebius, originally from Tire, not yet eighteen years old, approached the Christian prisoners who were in the praetorium; at this time, Christians boldly discussed among themselves about the Kingdom of God; approaching them, Theodosia began to ask them to remember her before the Lord when they, having completed their suffering, presented themselves to God. The soldiers, seeing the girl bowing to the Christian prisoners, seized her and, as if she had committed some bad act, dragged her to Hegemon Urvan for interrogation. The hegemon, filled with great rage and anger, ordered her to be tormented with fierce torment. Her ribs and breasts were torn to pieces by iron claws, so that the flesh came off from her to the bones; Then the hegemon ordered the martyr of Christ, who was still alive and suffering torment with a joyful face, to be drowned in the sea.” So says Eusebius, who saw everything with his own eyes. In addition, they add that this holy martyr of Christ Theodosius, after being drowned in the sea, was pulled out of the water by Angels onto land completely alive. And the saint walked, carrying in her hands a stone tied to her neck. Then the saint was again taken by the pagans, who brought her to the judgment seat. Saint Theodosius was sentenced to be devoured by animals, but she remained completely unharmed by them. Finally, the tormentor ordered her to be beheaded with a sword. During the beheading of the saint, they saw a dove flying out of her mouth, shining like gold and ascending to heaven 3510. When night fell, the holy martyr appeared to her parents along with many other holy virgins; The saint was clothed in clothes whiter than snow; she had a golden cross in her hand and a wreath on her head; at the same time, the saint said to her parents: “You see how great is the glory and grace of my Christ!” You see how great the glory you wanted to deprive me of. The saint said these words because her parents, noticing in her a desire to suffer for Christ, prevented her from doing so in every possible way; but secretly from them she hurried to the prisoners of Christ, and, as we said, she was taken to torture and crowned by her hero, the Lord Jesus Christ, our God. The birthplace of the holy martyr Theodosia was the city of Tire. Tire is located off the northeastern shores of the Dead Sea on the southwestern slope of the Gilead mountain range. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea (lived from 268 to 340), is a famous church historian who laid the foundation for church history; was distinguished by great learning. The following works belong to him: 1) “Church History”, brought from the times of the apostles to 324; divided into 10 books; 2) “Life of Constantine”; consists of 4 books and is a direct continuation of “Church History”, 3) “Chronography”. In addition, Eusebius owns many minor works of an apologetic, polemical and exegetical nature. Caesarea Palestine was located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. In ancient times, Caesarea was the residence of Roman procurators and the center of the country's socio-political life. – In the history of the Christian Church, Caesarea in Palestine is remarkable in that here for the first time access to the Church of Christ was opened to pagans by the Apostle Peter, who baptized the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10). The last trial of the Apostle Paul took place here, after which he was sent to Rome (Acts 26; Acts 27). – In Palestine there was another Caesarea, unlike the real one, called Philippi. It was located at the source of the Jordan. The death of the holy martyr followed in 307 or 308 on April 6. May 29 is the day of the transfer of her relics. The relics of the holy martyr were transferred initially to Constantinople, and then to Venice. You might be interested in: