Страдание святого мученика Ермия

During the persecution launched against Christians during the reign of the wicked Roman Emperor Antoninus in 3533, a certain nobleman named Sebastian was appointed emperor to torture Christians. Arriving from Cilicia in Cappadocia in 3534, he met in Comana 3535 a certain warrior named Hermias, an old man with gray hair, a Christian who believed in the one true God and led a virtuous life. The prince said to Ermiy: - A decree from the Roman Emperor Antoninus was sent to me, ordering all Christians to make sacrifices to the Roman gods; if Christians do not want to make sacrifices, they will be given over to many cruel torments. Therefore, you, Hermias, make a sacrifice to the gods: then you will be a friend of the king; you will be rewarded with great honors. Listen to me, otherwise I will give over to torment both your soul and body. The ascetic of Christ Hermias answered this: – I am a warrior of the heavenly and immortal King Christ, His Kingdom will have no end; Therefore, I will not carry out the orders of a mortal and wicked king, whose reign is short-lived, while the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ will remain unchanged forever; everyone who believes in Him will inherit eternal life. So I believe in Him. I used to serve Him in secret, but now I serve Him openly; the devil will not defeat me; You have power only over my body, and that by God’s permission; no one has power over my soul except God alone, who will give me patience and keep me unharmed forever. After Sebastian had listened to Saint Hermias, turning to him, he said: – Make a sacrifice to the gods if you want to enjoy the joys of this life. – What joy, what pleasure and what life can there be for me if I, having departed from my Creator, worship demons? Truly, this is not joy, but sadness; this is not pleasure, but grief; This is not life, but eternal death. - I see that you are very wise. – I am wise in the Lord my God, in whom I believe and whom I serve with all zeal; for Him I am ready to suffer and agree to die with joy. “Respecting your gray hair and your mind,” said the prince, “I am ready to spare and have mercy on you.” “I do not seek mercy from you, but I seek mercy from God, who makes His servants wise through the Holy Spirit.” - So, you prefer death to life? “This death,” answered the saint, “is not death, but eternal life, if I patiently endure the torments you have prescribed.” Then the prince ordered to crush the saint’s face with stones, beat him in the mouth and tear off the skin from his face. And the saint said: “I thank my God, for His grace remains with me.” Then the prince asked the warrior: - Why don’t you take your dues, like all the other soldiers take them? “Since you unjustly rob the poor,” answered the martyr, “for this reason I do not take your dues and do not feed on them, for I have spiritual food given to me by the Holy Spirit, from which I will never hunger.” Then the prince ordered the stove to be lit and the martyr of Christ thrown into it. Three days later they opened the oven, but found the saint alive and unharmed, glorifying God, for the fire had not touched his body. After this, the prince, calling the sorcerer, ordered him to give poison to Hermia. The saint, having prayed to God, drank the poisoned drink and did not suffer at all, according to the word of Christ the Lord, who said: “If they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them” (Mark 16:18). The sorcerer prepared an even more dangerous poison and gave it to the martyr, saying: “If you don’t suffer at all from this poison, then I will leave my magic and believe in the crucified God Whom you serve.” Saint Hermias, having tasted this poison and drank it to the dregs, did not suffer at all, but continued to remain healthy and unharmed. Then the sorcerer called: – You defeated me, Ermiy! You have overcome and overcome me, servant of Christ! You saved my lost soul from hell and prompted me to serve God. Just as an old statue made of iron, when reforged, is renewed; so I, having grown old in sins and wickedness, am renewed in soul; I am renewed, turning to the living God who abides forever. O Heavenly God, the only true one, who delivered me from the deception of demons and from the filth of idolatry through Your servant Hermias! Accept me, a sinner, turning to You, and have mercy on me, who confesses You! When he cried out like this, the prince was filled with rage and ordered to behead him. And that sorcerer was beheaded, having been baptized with his own blood; and the new Christian and martyr departed to Christ God, for whose sake he laid down his life. The prince ordered Saint Hermias to be tortured without mercy, pulling out the veins all over his body. Being so cruelly tortured, the saint said: “I don’t feel any pain at all from the torment; for, just as a knife, cutting a vein, releases bad blood and gives health to the body; so I, accepting the removal of the life from my body, become more and more sound in the faith of Christ. Then the tormentor ordered to throw the saint into a cauldron filled with boiling oil. But the cauldron immediately cooled down, and the boiling oil turned into cool dew. The martyr of Christ loudly exclaimed: “I don’t feel pain and I won’t carry out your orders, torturer!” I will only fulfill the will of the Heavenly Father, to Whom I offer myself as an immaculate sacrifice, for He is the Lord of our souls and bodies. While the saint was speaking thus, the tormentor ordered bitter vinegar mixed with bile to be poured into his larynx. The martyr said: “This bitterness for me is like a honeycomb for the sake of my God, in whose name I endure all this.” Then the torturer ordered the eyes of Saint Hermias to be gouged out. Hearing about this, the saint said to the tormentor: “If you need my bodily eyes, which see the vanity of this world, then take them; I have eyes of the heart with which I clearly contemplate the true light. And the eyes of the holy martyr were gouged out. Then the saint was hung upside down and hung in this position for three days, so that a lot of blood came out through his nostrils. After three days, some came to look at the saint, thinking that he had already died, but they found him alive and glorifying God, which they were very surprised at. But because of their unbelief, their eyes were covered with darkness; they went blind and began to cry: “Have mercy on us, servant of the true God, for we are stricken with blindness!” When they approached him, he laid his hands on them and said: - In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, receive your sight. And immediately everyone received their sight and, returning, told about everything that had happened. The prince, becoming even more angry, ordered the skin to be torn off from the entire body of the martyr. When the servants carried out the orders of the tormentor, the saint reviled the prince and reproached his vile gods, which provoked the prince to even greater anger. Roaring like a lion, he cut off the honorable head of the holy martyr with a knife. This is how the martyr of Christ Hermias completed his feat 3536. The Christians, coming secretly to the place, took his honest body and buried him in Cappadocia in a place called Comana. Here many miracles were performed from the honest relics of the martyr and various healings were given to the glory of Christ, our God, to whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, glory, honor and worship are given, now and to endless ages. Amen. Even though you labored diligently for Christ, you gained courage in the gray hairs of your valor, O martyr Hermea: you trampled down the lawless plots of evil with the power of Christ, and you remained unharmed from enchanted drinks, calling: God is with me and no one is against me. Emperor Antoninus I reigned from 138 to 161. Cilicia and Cappadocia are regions in Asia Minor. The city of Comana was located in the northeast. parts of Asia Minor, in the province of Ponte. – In the history of the Christian Church, this city is known as the place of exile of St. John Chrysostom (see his life under November 13 However, some here mean the city of Comana, located in Cappadocia. Death of St. Martyr Hermias followed approx. 166 You might be interested in: