Страдание святого мученика Гордия

The Martyr of Christ Gordius was born in Caesarea Cappadocia from Christian parents and was raised in the Orthodox Christian faith. Upon reaching manhood, he was taken into military service and appointed to the position of centurion, because he surpassed many in both physical strength and strength of spirit. At that time, the Roman emperor Licinius 116 poured out all his anger on Christians and raised his atheistic hand against the Church of Christ. Royal commands and decrees were sent throughout all trading areas and all the most crowded places not to worship Christ and that anyone who violated this royal prohibition would be subject to the death penalty. Everyone was brought to stone and wooden idol images to worship the work of human hands, and those who disobeyed were forced to this by torture. Confusion began throughout the city; Christians' property was plundered, houses were emptied, people were beaten; pious women were dragged through the city; – there was no mercy for youth or respect for old age; those who were innocent of anything suffered like villains; the dungeons were crowded; and good and rich houses lost their inhabitants; the desert was filled with people expelled only because they believed in Christ; a father handed over his son to death, a son brought his father to trial, a brother raged against his brother, and a slave rebelled against his master; the devil brought a kind of terrible night of madness upon the souls of people, so that one did not recognize the other, as if in the dark. Houses of prayer were ruined by the hands of the wicked, holy altars were overthrown, and there was no offering, no incense, no place where the Divine service could be performed: everything was enveloped in despondency, as if by some dark cloud; the servants of God were driven out, every pious meeting was held in horror, and the demons rejoiced, desecrating the universe with children and the blood of the victim. Seeing such disasters, Gordius decided to voluntarily leave the city; having thrown off his military girdle 117 and leaving wealth, relatives, friends, slaves and everyday comforts and everything that is desired for people who love the world and its pleasures, he went into the deep and impassable deserts for people, considering life with animals more pleasant for himself than communication with idolaters; he imitated the holy prophet Elijah, who, having seen the service of the Sidonian idols, retired to Mount Horeb, entered a cave, seeking God, Whom he saw, since the human eye could see Him (2 Kings 19). Such was this Gordius, who fled from the city unrest, from the cliques of the market, from the arrogance of officials, from the courts of slanderers, selling, buying, swearing, lying, swearing, fleeing from games and mockery and from the indecent gaiety of the city, since he had pure hearing, pure eyes and, above all, a pure heart that could see God. He was granted Divine revelations and learned great mysteries “not by men and not through man” (Gal. 1:1), but having a great teacher - the Spirit of truth (John 15:26). From here, turning to thinking about life, how useless and short it is, like a dream and a shadow, he desired with all the strength of his soul an eternal stay in heaven and, like a strong fighter, began to prepare for the fight by fasting, vigil, prayer and teaching in the word of God. With special impatience, he looked forward to the day on which the whole city was supposed to celebrate the festival of the nasty god Mars, or, more correctly, the demon who loves to fight 118. When this day came, all the people came to the circus to watch the horse racing, and everyone sat in high places. There was no one left in the city at that time; Among the spectators who looked at the fast running of the horses and the skill of the charioteers, there were many Christians who did not care about their lives and did not shy away from the idle gathering. On that day, slaves were freed from work and gathered there, children from schools hurried here, and prodigal and shameless women were present here. So the circus was filled with countless people, carefully watching the horse races. Then the valiant and great-spirited Proudius, descending from a high mountain into the circus, was not afraid of the people, did not consider to what many armed hands he was betraying himself, but with a fearless heart and a fearless soul, pushing through the people sitting in the circus, he stood in the middle, confirming the word of Scripture: “The righteous is bold as a lion” (Prov. 28:1) 119. But not only that, standing with such boldness in an open place in the circus, he loudly, like the apostles, proclaimed the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I was found by those who did not seek Me” (Is. 65:1), showing them clearly that he was not brought here by necessity, but voluntarily surrendered himself to the martyrdom in imitation of the Lord Christ, Who Himself gave Himself into the hands of those who sought him in the darkness of the night Jews When those present at the circus found out who stood before them, a cry immediately arose: the believers applauded with joy, and the unbelievers shouted to the judge to give the order to execute Gordius. Everything was filled with screaming and confusion, they stopped looking at the horses, they stopped looking at the drivers; in vain the noise from the chariots filled the air: no one wanted to see anything except Gordius, no one wanted to hear anything but the words of Gordius. The entire circus was filled with screams, which, spreading through the air like the wind, covered the noise from the horses. When the herald signaled silence, the trumpets fell silent, the pipes fell silent, the musical instruments fell silent: everyone looked only at Gordius, everyone listened to him alone. The mayor, who monitored order at the races and assigned rewards to the participants in the race, was sitting there in the circus. The saint was immediately brought to him and the latter was asked the question: -Who is he and where is he from? What family and clan is he from? Then Gordius told everything about himself - what his rank was, and why, having left his service, he retired into the desert and why he returned. “I have returned,” said Gordius, “to show by deed that I disregard your commands and confess Jesus Christ, my hope and protection.” Having learned that you surpass many in your ferocity, I deliberately chose this day as a convenient time to fulfill my intention and vow. From these words, the mayor’s anger flared up like fire, and he turned all his ferocity towards Saint Gordius. - Call the executioners to me! - he exclaimed. -Where are the whips? Where are the lead balls? Where are the wheels? Let them stretch him out on wheels and tear his body to pieces 120; let them hang him on a tree, bring the instruments of execution; let him be given to the beasts, beheaded with a sword and thrown into the abyss. However, all this is still not enough for this wicked man, who deserves to die not just one death, but many. Then Saint Gordius said: “Truly, I would have caused great harm to myself if I had not wanted to die for Christ!” These words infuriated the mayor even more, intensifying his natural ferocity. But the more cruel he became, the more courageous Saint Gordius appeared in his torment. No torment, no deadly weapon could turn him away from his adopted intention. Raising his eyes to heaven, he sang verses from the psalm: “The Lord is for me - I will not be afraid: what will man do to me?” (Ps. 118:6) and also: “I will fear no evil, because You are with me” (Ps. 23:4); and other similar sayings, which he learned from the Divine books, were sung by Gordius, rousing himself to courage and patience. He was so far from fear that he invited torment upon himself. “Why,” he said, “are you delaying?” Why are you standing? Plane my body and crush it into pieces, torture me as you please. Do not deprive me of hope of receiving those benefits that are promised to me: the more you intensify my torment, the greater the reward I will receive from my Master. The sorrow of this life brings eternal joy, and we, instead of the wounds that you place on our body, will receive bright clothes on the day of general resurrection; for dishonor, we will be given heavenly crowns. Instead of being condemned with evildoers, we will be given the opportunity to dwell with Angels. Unable to turn Saint Gordius away from the holy faith with his rage and torture, the crafty mayor began to seduce him with caresses: for this is the custom of the devil - he frightens the fearful, and softens the firm with flattery and weakens. So, the tormentor began to offer the saint various gifts and promised even greater rewards on behalf of the king. “The king,” he said, “will give you a high position in the army, a large estate, wealth and glory and everything you want.” The saint, having heard his promises, laughed at his madness and said: “Can you really give me something that could be better than the Kingdom of Heaven?” Then the wicked mayor, angrily drawing his sword and commanding to call the executioner, condemned Saint Gordius to beheaded. Before the execution was carried out in the presence of many people, Gordius was surrounded by people who knew him, hugged him and gave him his last kiss. With tears, they begged him not to give himself up to death, not to ruin his life in the prime of life and not to leave this sun that was pleasant to everyone. They advised him that he should at least verbally renounce Christ, and said: – In one word, you can save yourself from death, renounce Christ with your lips; Believe in Him in your heart as you wish, for God listens not to the tongue, but to the thoughts of the speaker. If you do this, you will soften the judge’s anger and appease God. He, like a cliff standing in the middle of the sea, which remains indestructible, despite the fact that the sea waves hit it with force, remained unshakable in his good decision. And just as a house standing on a rock is not destroyed by any strong winds, torrential rains or overflowing rivers, so that strong man was unshakable in his faith. Having seen with his spiritual eyes that the devil was walking around his acquaintances and prompting one to tears, the other to prayers and bad advice, the martyr said to the weeping words of the Lord: “Do not weep for Me” (Luke 23:28), but weep for the enemies of God who persecute Christians; for those I say, weep, who, “preparing fire for us, kindle hell for themselves, and store up for themselves wrath for the day of wrath” (Rom. 2:5). Stop crushing my heart; for I am ready not once, but many times, to die for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. To those who advised Gordius to renounce Christ only in words, he answered like this: – The tongue that was given to me by the grace of Christ, I cannot force to renounce my Creator: “For with the heart they believe unto righteousness, and with the mouth they confess unto salvation” (Rom. 10:10). How can I renounce the Lord, Whom I have worshiped since childhood? I was raised in the holy faith. Will heaven be horrified if I renounce God? Will not the heavenly bodies hide their lights from before me? Will the earth bear me and not devour me alive? “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7) 121 “and from our mouth He judges us, and from our words justifies us, and from words condemns us” (Luke 19:22; Matt. 12:37). Have you not heard the terrible threat of the Lord: “whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny before My Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:33)? Why do you advise me with my lips to renounce my God? Is it really to prolong your life? Is it really to get rid of death for a while and gain a few days of life? But through this I will lose eternal life. Is it really in order to avoid bodily torment? But at the same time, I will not see the benefits prepared for the righteous where there are no diseases. It will be sheer madness if I buy myself eternal torment and death along with my soul with a short life. No, I advise you too: if you think so badly, then learn prudence and truth and, “putting away falsehood, speak the truth” (Eph. 4:25), say that “the Lord Jesus Christ is to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:11), for every tongue will utter such words, when “at the name of Jesus every knee bowed, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” (Phil. 2:10). Having said this and made the sign of the cross on himself, Saint Gordius went to execution without fear, without changing the brightness of his face, and stood at the place of execution in such a state of mind, as if there was no executioner behind him, and as if he saw the Angels in front of him, to whom he wanted to give his soul into their hands. Having been beheaded by the sword, he acquired a blessed life: like Lazarus, with joyful cries, he was transferred to the place of eternal rest, where, accepting reward, he, together with the Angels, forever glorifies the Hero of Labor - Christ, for Whom he suffered. With your sweat, O glorious one, you have watered the whole earth, and with your honest blood, O O proud one, you have made the whole world glad; with your prayers, O God-Wise One, save with all your faith those who sing and please you, crying out a worthy song, O all-validated one, like a long-sufferer. Licinius is a Roman emperor who ruled the eastern half of it from 307–321. Persons holding honorary positions in the army were distinguished by a special belt on which a sword was hung. The Roman god of war, Mars, was revered as one of the most important deities of the Roman state religion. Those. a righteous man fears nothing like a lion. Instruments of torment of the first Christians. Those. God cannot be deceived. You might be interested in: