Страдание святых мучеников Леонтия, Ипатия и Феодула

During the reign of Vespasian 4035, there lived in Rome one senator named Hadrian, a cruel, merciless man and resourceful for all kinds of evil. He heard about Christians that, disdaining idolatry sacrifices, they blaspheme the gods revered by the Romans and Greeks, since they recognize only the One true God - Christ, to whose faith they convert many; Filled with zeal for his vain gods, Adrian went to the king and asked him to give him the power to force Christians to idolatry with the right to torture and kill those who did not want to worship the gods. The king appointed Hadrian as hegemon 4036 in the Phoenician country with the authority to persecute all believers in Christ. When Hadrian, upon leaving Rome, was already approaching Phenicia, he learned that in the city of Tripolis 4037 there was a military leader Leontius, destroying the laws of his fathers, namely: reproaching the ancient gods, he taught not to worship or make sacrifices to them, which turned many who listened to him away from the veneration of idols. Adrian immediately sent the tribune 4038 Hypatius to Tripolis with a army of 4039 soldiers, instructing him to seize Leontius and keep him in custody until his arrival. The servant of Christ, Leontius was from Greece; tall, strong and courageous, he was distinguished by his courage in battles, in which he won many victories; therefore, Leontius enjoyed fame and respect among the warriors. In addition, naturally gifted with reason, possessing developed life experience and book teaching, Leonty was a man of council and government. Knowing that there is only One true God, the Lord Jesus Christ, Leonty devoted his entire life to serving Him, believing not only in word, but also in deed. Merciful to the poor, he fed the hungry, clothed the naked, gave shelter to the strange, and adorned himself with all his good deeds, for which the Lord awarded him a victorious crown. When the spiral of soldiers approached Tripolis, the tribune Hypatius unexpectedly and suddenly fell ill with a fever, the cause of which he explained to his soldiers as follows: “I know why this real illness befell me: the gods were angry with me because, setting out on this journey, I did not bring them a sacrifice worthy of them; So they punish me with illness. Seeing that the tribune had indeed suffered a serious illness, the soldiers sympathized with him, grieving over his sadness; Three days passed, and the patient did not eat anything, as the illness intensified from hour to hour, threatening death. On the night of the third day, on the fourth platform, the Angel of the Lord appeared in a vision and said: “If you want to be healthy, then together with your soldiers cry to heaven three times: “God of Leontius, help me!” If you do this, you will be healed immediately. Quickly rising and opening his eyes, the tribune, scorched by the internal heat, saw the holy Angel, who stood before him in the form of a beautiful young man, dressed in snow-white clothes. “I,” he said to the Angel, “have been sent with soldiers to take Leontius and keep him in custody until the coming of Hegemon Adrian, and you command me to call on God Leontius for help.” During these words of the sick tribune, the Angel disappeared from his sight; In horror, the tribune woke up his friends who were sleeping near him and said to them: “Listen to what I saw: as soon as I lost myself in my first sleep, some bright young man appeared before me and advised me, together with all of you, to call on God Leontius, promising recovery for this. When I woke up, I saw the young man with my own eyes, after which he soon disappeared. “This is not such a difficult matter,” said the friends; - We will all fulfill it, as long as you are healthy. One of the tribune’s friends, named Theodulus, was especially surprised by the vision and asked the patient in detail what kind of appearance the young man who had appeared was; the tribune willingly satisfied his curiosity. And Theodulus’s heart burned with love for the God of Leontius, unknown to him. When the warriors, awakening from sleep, gathered around the sick tribune and learned from him about the vision that had happened to him, they all stood up, without exception, and exclaimed, looking at the sky, together with the sufferer: Immediately the tribune rose healthy, as if he had never been ill; The lunch hour came and the tribune began to eat, drink and have fun with his friends. The miracle manifested over the tribune filled Theodulus with even greater surprise - he sat separately, thinking in silence: – Who is Leonty, and who is Leonty’s God? Meanwhile, Theodulus’s friends invited him to take part in the feast, but he, preferring hunger to it, did not want to taste anything. Seeing that the soldiers, under the influence of wine, forgot about the orders of the hegemon, Theodul said to them: “Adrian will overtake us tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, and we don’t even think about looking for the husband whom we were commanded to take; If you want, the tribune and I will go before you to the city and look for the one for whom we were sent. Having then convinced the tribune to go with him, Theodulus and Hypatius both headed towards the city. They had just climbed to the top of the mountain where Tripoli was located when Leonty came out to meet them and greeted them with these words: – Rejoice in the Lord, brothers! - Rejoice, brother! - answered the tribune and Theodulus. - Who did you come here to look for? – Leonty asked. “King Vespasian,” they said, “became aware that in this city there lives a certain man named Leontius, a noble, reasonable, virtuous and brave warrior; We were sent to find out his place of residence; Following us comes Hegemon Adrian, to whose management the king entrusted this entire Phoenician country; the hegemon himself wants to see Leontius as a man dear to the gods, so that later with great honor he can send him to the king, and the entire Roman Senate wants to see Leontius, since everyone knows about his courageous courage in battles, in the art of government, about his piety and many other glorious deeds. Hearing this, blessed Leonty said: “I see that you are newcomers and don’t know what’s going on in this city.” Come to me; take a break from the journey, and I will show you Leontius, whom you call a friend of your gods; in reality, he is not at all a friend of the gods you worship, but know him as a Christian who believes in the Lord Jesus! Hypatius and Theodulus spoke to each other: -Who is this man who calls Leontius a Christian? Isn't he a relative? Then they asked the husband unknown to them: “About my name,” he answered, “this is what is written in the books: “You will step on the asp and the basilisk; You will trample the lion and the dragon” (Psalm 90:13), for I must trample the lion - the devil, the invisible enemy, and the serpent - the hegemon, the visible enemy; I must defeat, like asps and basilisks, and his advisers, zealous servants of demons. And when I have triumphed over all the hordes of the lion, then the deed itself will reveal my name. These words seemed mysterious to the tribune and Theodulus; Trying to explain them to themselves, they followed the amazing husband to his house in bewilderment. Saint Leontius treated them, organizing a meal for them. Having eaten from it, they said to the owner: “We are very pleased with your treat, good husband!” Show us your kindness to the end - show Leontius, whom we are looking for. When Adrian arrives, we will tell him how much you have done for us, and for this he will honor you with great honor, so that you will be in communication with the king’s friends. “I am Leontius, whom you are looking for,” the saint answered, “I am the warrior of Jesus Christ whom Adrian sent you to take.” Then the tribune and Theodulus fell at the feet of Leontius, saying: - Servant of the Most High God! Forgive us our sin and hasten to pray to your God for us, so that He will deliver us from the idolatry of wickedness and the fierce beast Hadrian, for we want to be Christians. Then they told him how an Angel appeared to the sick man and how the illness left the tribune following the calling of God Leontius. Seeing the manifestation of the power of Christ, Saint Leontius was filled with joy; Prostrate on the ground in the shape of a cross, he began to pray to God like this with tears: – Lord God, “Who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), look upon us at this hour: You have made those whom I should have followed follow me; save me, Thy sheep, and enlighten them with me with the light of Thy mercy. Pour out the grace of Your Holy Spirit on them, create a pure heart in them and, having overshadowed them with Your Holy Sign, make them Your invincible warriors - arm and strengthen them against the enemy - the devil and his servants. May these Thy servants erase the head of the invisible serpent and the visible evil beast Hadrian. After the warm prayer of Saint Leontius, a bright cloud overshadowed the tribune Hypatius and his friend Theodulus and baptized them, showering them with rain, and Saint Leontius at that time invoked over those being baptized the name of the Most Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. After his miraculous baptism, he praised God, saying: - Glory to Thee, my God! He who listens to the prayers of those who love You and fulfills the desires of those who fear You! Having clothed the newly baptized in white robes, Saint Leontius ordered that lighted candles be carried before them. At this time, the rest of the soldiers who had fallen behind on the way also came to the city; they asked about Leontius, as well as about their tribune and Theodulus. When the soldiers found them, they were extremely amazed and perplexed when they saw burning candles and white clothes on Hypatia and Theodulus. Having learned that the latter had converted to Christianity and were baptized, the soldiers were at first embarrassed, and then began to be indignant; At the same time, the news of the baptism of Hypatius and Theodulus reached some citizens of the city; the latter rebelled with a cry: - Let those who dishonor our gods be burned! Discord and unrest arose in the city: some defended Leontius and the rest of the Christians, while others wanted to kill them, but, however, awaited the arrival of the hegemon, not daring to arbitrarily cause any harm to the Christians. After two days, Hegemon Adrian approached the city; The citizens who came out to meet him told him everything about Leontius and the other Christians led by the latter. “A certain man,” they said, “Leonty by name and a Christian by faith, turns everyone away from our gods with his magical tricks, which are only known to him.” At the same time, he glorifies a certain person whom the Jews, after being strangled, put to death, and Pilate, after beating, crucified. Finally, this same Leontius seduced even the royal soldiers by sorcery, convincing them to accept the Galilean faith; and now for the third day he has been holding them, having previously dressed them in white robes, hopelessly in his house, and together with them he glorifies his once crucified Christ, insulting our gods with countless blasphemies. Adrian immediately sent soldiers to take Leontius, tribune Hypatius and Theodulus, ordering them to be imprisoned and kept in custody until trial. Then, having entered the city, the hegemon devoted the day to rest. While in prison, Saint Leontius constantly taught his allies in the faith of Christ and strengthened them for the upcoming martyrdom, pointing to future reward; They spent the entire night that followed in prayer and psalmody, praising God. On the morning of the next day, the hegemon sat down at the judgment seat, when the holy prisoners were brought out of prison for interrogation. -Are you Leonty? – the hegemon turned to Saint Leontius. “I am,” answered the latter. “What is your rank,” the hegemon continued the interrogation, “and how did you seduce these warriors, once faithful servants of our king, with your magical sorcery, forcing them to now serve your God?” “I,” explained Saint Leontius, “is a warrior of my Christ, I am the son of that true Light “Which enlightens every man who comes into the world” (John 1:9), and everyone who comes to this Light will not stumble (John 11:9–10). Hypatius and Theodulus now know that the beginning, action and implementation of the Light I mention is Christ Himself, the Son of God and God without beginning, co-essential with the Father, Light from Light, God from God; Having known Him, they left your gods, made of wood, stone or the bones of dumb animals; these inactive and powerless gods are easily destroyed. The hegemon, annoyed by the fearless speech of Saint Leontius, ordered the servants to beat him. He, enduring the beatings, raised his eyes to heaven, from where he expected help for himself, and said to the hegemon: - Mad torturer! You, thinking of causing me suffering, are even more tormenting yourself, remorseful in your heart. After long beatings, the hegemon ordered Saint Leontius to be taken back to prison; then he turned to Hypatius and Theodulus: - For what reason did you reject the fatherly customs instilled in you from childhood and leave the military award, saddening the king? “We have received,” answered the saints, “the best reward from the Heavenly King: He has given us “the bread of God, which comes down from heaven” (John 6:33), and the cup of wine that flowed from the side of Christ. “Such obscene and senseless speeches,” said Adrian, “were taught to you by the wicked Leontius, but I tell you: do the will of the king.” Don’t you know his command - to bestow great honor and rewards on warriors who honor the gods, and to kill those who turn away from them, subjecting them to fierce torture? “Our military dignity is in heaven,” objected Saints Hypatius and Theodulus, “and therefore do with us what you want; as a zealot of the bad gods, you take up arms against us innocents; but soon your life will also perish - the time of your days will be shortened. In a rage, Adrian ordered the tribune, naked, to hang him on a tormenting tree and whittle his body with iron claws. Theodula ordered to be stretched out on the ground and beaten without mercy. The saints bravely endured all these torments; Remembering the instructions of Saint Leontius, they did not say anything except the following prayer: “Save [me], Lord, for the righteous is no more” (Psalm 11:1). Seeing that the saints remained firm and unshakable in the faith of Christ, the torturer condemned them to death by beheading by the sword. Drawn to death, Saints Hypatius and Theodulus sang: – You are our refuge, Lord! We commend our souls into Your hands. With joy they stretched out their necks under the sword for Christ and, after beheading, went to the Lord to receive from His right hand the crown prepared for them. After this, Saint Leonty was again taken to the hegemon's judgment seat. “Spare, Leonty,” the hegemon told him, “your life, so that you do not experience those severe torments that the tribune and Theodulus, who were seduced by you, suffered.” Obey me, make a sacrifice to the gods, and then you will receive great honor not only from me, but from the king himself and the Roman Senate, for the king and the nobles strongly desire to see you. “I don’t want,” answered Saint Leontius, “to see the face of your king, hostile and abominable to my God.” It is better, if you wish, that you, Adrian, be a friend of my Christ; and if you become one, then I will show you what honor, wealth and salvation you will receive in eternal life. With an evil laugh, Adrian asked: “You obviously want me to receive the same salvation that befell the tribune and Theodulus?” Senseless head! Or do you not know from what execution they died? “That execution,” the saint objected, “is not an execution, but a better life, peace and joy: now they rejoice, having settled among the ranks of Angels.” “Listen carefully to what I say,” the hegemon suggested to Saint Leontius: which of the people, not devoid of intelligence, despised this sunshine and the great gods Dius, Apollo, Neptune, Venus and others only to end his days with a shameful and painful death? Truly no one except those enchanted by you! “Didn’t you hear,” Saint Leonty asked the hegemon. - the words of Scripture: “For all the gods of the nations are idols” (Ps. 95:5), “They who make them and everyone who trusts in them will be like them” (Ps. 134:18); Who among sane people would want to become like a dumb stone or soulless substance, which in reality are your gods, so that, making sacrifices to them, die an endless death? In great anger, the tormentor ordered the martyr, prostrate on the ground, to be beaten mercilessly by four strong servants, and a special herald to exclaim: - Those who humiliate our gods and disobey the commands of kings will die a similar death. They beat the holy martyr until the beaters were exhausted. Saint Leonty said to the tormentor: “Even if you turn my whole body into one wound, you still won’t defeat my mind, you won’t be the master of my soul.” Then the hegemon ordered the saint to be hanged on a torment tree and his entire body, ribs and legs to be planed with sharp iron tools. They whittled the holy martyr for a long time; in grave suffering, he raised his eyes to heaven and turned to God with the following prayer: - My God, You are my hope, save me! Then the torturer said to the executioners: – Remove it from the tree; I know that he then raises his eyes to heaven to beg our gods to give him relief. Hearing this, Saint Leonty loudly and angrily exclaimed to the hegemon: “Perish you and your gods, dangerous and nasty tormentor!” I pray to my God that He will grant me the courage and strength to endure the severe torment you impose. The torturer ordered to hang him again, but this time upside down, tying a heavy stone to his neck. For a long time Saint Leonty was in this position, praying out loud like this: - Lord Jesus Christ, who strengthened Your servants, Hypatius and Theodulus, at the confession of Your most holy name, strengthen me, Your humble and sinful servant, so that I may be able to endure real torment. Don't leave me, my Hope! “I know, Leonty, that you will become a friend of our gods,” said the hegemon. “I am a servant of the highest God,” the martyr objected, “and you are a slave of your gods, with whom you and your warriors will perish.” All day Saint Leontius endured such torment; When evening approached and the sun had already begun to decline to the west, the hegemon ordered Saint Leontius to be removed from the torment tree and thrown into prison until the morning. All night Saint Leontius chanted in conclusion: “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom should I fear?” (Psalm 27:1). The Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: - Take courage, Leonty! The Lord God, Whom you serve faithfully, sent me to you so that I could remain constantly with you. And the saint rejoiced and was glad in the Lord his God. The sun rose, and again Adrian, having sat down at the judgment seat, demanded Saint Leontius to come to him. - How is Leonty, what did you think? – he asked. “I have come,” answered the saint, “to one conclusion: not to pay attention to your empty speeches; I have said many times before and now I will repeat again that I will never leave my God, the Creator of heaven, earth, sea and everything that fills them, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who endured the torment of the cross for our salvation; in Him alone I place my hope. - Listen to me, Leonty! - exhorted the hegemon, - make a sacrifice to the gods; I swear to you by my gods that in this case you will receive from the king both great honor and many riches. “What honor and what riches in heaven can force me,” asked Saint Leontius, “to listen to you and renounce my God?” The whole world is unworthy of Christ the Lord, Whom I love with all my heart, out of love for Whom I suffer and am ready to endure everything; I will not sacrifice to your gods. Having finally become convinced that it was impossible to defeat the invincible warrior of Christ, that is, to persuade him to pagan wickedness, the hegemon issued the following death sentence to Saint Leontius: - Leontius, who not only did not want to obey the order of the king and make sacrifices to the gods, but also blasphemed the gods of his fathers, we command, stretching him out on a torturous tree in four directions, to beat him until he spews out his soul from torment. They stretched out Saint Leontius, tying him to four stakes driven into the ground, then four strong warriors beat him for a long time and cruelly, until in agony he betrayed his holy soul into the hands of God; His body, thrown outside the city, was taken by the faithful and given an honest burial near the Tripolskaya pier. This suffering of the holy martyr Leontius was described by the servant of Christ “Cyrus the notary,” who saw the torment with his own eyes; He wrote about everything on tin tablets, which he placed with the relics of the martyr in his tomb for subsequent Christian generations, so that everyone reading or listening would raise their hands to heaven and give glory to God, who strengthened His servant for such a feat. Saint Leontius committed his suffering on June 18 during the reign of Vespasian in Rome, and in the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom glory is given with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen 4040. You put the tormentors to shame by your evil deceit, and you exposed the Hellenes to your godless service, you shone with the wisdom of God throughout mankind, with the teachings of piety to the God-Wise Martyr. For this sake, we honor your memory with love, wise Leontius. Reigned from 70 to 79. Hegemon is the regional ruler. Tripoli - a seaside Phoenician city with a harbor; was located at the base of the highest point in Lebanon. Tribune is a leader over a detachment of warriors of 1000 people. Spira – company (Acts 10:1) or regiment (Acts 21:31). Oh St. the martyr Leontius is mentioned by the Council of Constantinople, which was under Patriarch Minas (636–552); a church was dedicated to him in Phoenician Tripolis. In Constantinople the memory of St. Leontia was solemnly celebrated in two places - in the church named after him and near Kamaridia. You might be interested in: