Память святых мучеников Мануила, Георгия, Петра, Леонтия, Сиония, Гавриила, Иоанна, Леонта, Парода и прочих, числом 377, с ними пострадавших

These holy martyrs came from different regions of the Roman Empire and lived in Adrianople 906 under Emperor Leo the Armenian 907. At that time, the Bulgarian king Krum devastated Thrace and Macedonia and approached Constantinople itself, then, after a three-month siege, captured Adrianople 908 and captured all its inhabitants who survived the massacre, up to forty thousand people; among them was the local bishop, whom the pagan king ordered to be thrown headlong to the ground and trampled. Krum died an evil death; his successor Ducum died soon after him, and Ditseng, a formidable and inhuman ruler, reigned over the Bulgarians. He ordered Bishop Manuel of Adrianople to be sawed in two and the saint’s arms cut off to the shoulders, after which his sacred remains were thrown to be devoured by dogs. The wrath of God struck the monster with blindness, and soon Ditseng was killed by his subjects. He was succeeded by Murtagon, who began to cruelly persecute Christians who did not obey his command to renounce Christ; He languished Christ's faithful servants in prison, tortured them and put them to death in inhumane torment. The holy bishops George of Develta 909 and Peter, who established their flock in the faith of Christ, were subjected to the cruelest blows by the inhuman tormentor with a cane and then cut off their honorable heads with a sword; Seven Christians were subjected to the same execution along with the saints; Christian commanders John and Leontes were also beheaded by the sword; St. Leontius, the eunuch, Bishop of Nicaea, had his belly pierced by the pagans with a sword; Gabriel and Sionius suffered martyrdom by the sword; Parod, the most reverent presbyter, was stoned. Many other faithful servants of Christ were beaten and imprisoned at this time. And not only the ferocious Murtagon, but also his successors on the Bulgarian throne cruelly persecuted Christians, who, through various tortures and painful deaths, won an eternal kingdom for themselves. Adrianople is a city in Thrace (European Turkey) at the confluence of Tundzha and Maritsa. Leo the Armenian - Byzantine emperor, reigned from 813 to 820. Develt - now Zagara, on the Black Sea coast. You might be interested in: