The Suffering of the Holy Martyr Alexander

Translated from the same book Νέον Μαρτιρολόγιον, from which the stories about the suffering of the martyrs, placed in the XI part of the Addenda to the Ed., were borrowed. Creation St. Fathers, 1852 pp. 471, 644 and 649. (died in Smyrna, May 26, 1794.) This illustrious martyr was from the city of Thessalonica; His parents lived at the Laodigian monastery, usually called Lagodiana, where his mother still lives to this day. Since Alexander was not only young, but also handsome in appearance, it was almost impossible not to be tempted due to the violence that the Hagarians allowed themselves in this city; Therefore, his parents, as his mother testifies, wanting to remove their son from violence dangerous to chastity, were forced to send him to Smyrna, as a place that seemed safer to them. But what came of it? We can say: he fled from a snake and fell on a dragon; he escaped from a bear and met a lion; fled from the danger of chastity, and fell into the perfect abyss of destruction. I can’t say for sure whether it was through coercion or seduction, but Alexander rejected his father’s faith and became a Turk. Some say that he hired himself into the service of one Turk, Agha, and that he deceived his simple soul into wickedness. But after living with Aga for a short time, he fled from him, wandered from one place to another, even went to Mecca, and to where the tomb of Mohammed is located, as he himself later spoke about this before the judge, speaking with contempt about their imaginary shrine. From that time on, he began to walk around different cities, places and villages, dressed as a dervish. But, as can be seen, this blessed one did not trample upon his conscience at all, did not defile his soul with any of the stu- dent deeds most common among the Hagarians; Apparently, he felt in himself a living conviction of a good conscience; Apparently, from a long time ago, or from the very beginning, his mind was fraught with the thought of martyrdom, and the desire to atone for his lawlessness with blood. Therefore, even in the humiliated form of a dervish, he retained great modesty and modesty; and then it was almost possible to notice sanity and prudence in him, and that he wanted to assume only the appearance of a fool, and under this cover he spoke a lot against the Hagarians; cruelly denounced them for many injustices and lawlessness, especially in the fact that they mercilessly oppress and torture the poor Rai (enslaved Christians), whom God gave them over to rule, and not to be devoured. “Don’t you judge,” he said, “that all people were created by one God.” It is true that other dervishes also had the custom of saying this; but Alexander spoke with special force, with amazing and extraordinary boldness, so that the cruelty of his denunciations often infuriated the Turks. And in Rosetta, a city in Egypt, the Hagarians were so irritated against him that some of the rulers drew up a sentence to put him to death, saying that it was true that he was not a Turk, but a Christian. Alexander, having learned this, withdrew from there, as it seems, because his death there could not be so clearly recognized as a reward for the confession of Christ, as it happened later. And they suspected that he was a Christian because they often saw how he treated Christians and found pleasure in conversations with them. When I met monastic Christians, I had the custom of saying mysteriously: one is three, and three are one. - He who does not have three does not have one. Especially, while he was in Egypt, he dared to say something even more mysterious, before a certain Panagiot from Zagora, why this one knew and was convinced that he was a Christian. Having fled from Egypt, Alexander came to his fatherland - Thessalonica, ten years before his martyrdom, and was not recognized by anyone there, and from here again moving from place to place, he arrived on the island of Chios, in the very year in which he suffered. On Great Pentecost, he came to one church there, and, as the priest of that church testified, throughout the entire church service, he stood and prayed. After this, one day later, he began to make such severe denunciations of the Turks that, who was a Christian of Chios of noble family, he fled away in fear. So the blessed one, covering himself with the clothes of a dervish, found in this a convenient means for himself to teach the Turks chastity, justice, love of mankind and any other virtue; and he himself, setting a good example in himself, taught others humility, modesty, non-covetousness and all sorts of other exploits. He did not want to burden anyone with himself, he did not ask for money from the noble and rich, as other dervishes usually do, but through his labors he acquired his daily bread. And that for eighteen years he remained in the form of a dervish; this, it seems, is because in some more quickly, and in others more slowly, the fire that Christ came to earth kindles; It is true that the Lord, the Savior of souls, recognized this as most useful. But when this Alexander, still in the form of a dervish, came from the island of Chios to Smyrna; Then I heard in my good heart the mysterious word of God’s grace that the hour had already come to show boldness and accomplish what had been intended for a long time. One must think that the blessed one entered this great field on the advice of some spiritual father: but his name remains unknown to us to this day; many tried hard to find out this, but without success. On Tuesday, before Holy Pentecost, valiantly armed with the power of the honorable cross, which achieved a saving victory over the world, Alexander comes to the judge, that is, to the city Mullah, and with all beneficence, freely declared himself who he was before he later became, and how now, having repented, he returns to his former state. Loudly and openly he said to the judge: “I was a Christian, but out of my madness I renounced my faith and became a Turk; but then I realized that my first faith was light, and I lost it, and your faith is darkness, as I understand it. That is why I come now to confess before you that I have sinned by renouncing the light and accepting darkness. I was born a Christian, and I want to die a Christian. Here, you heard, judge, what I decided on; do with me what you want; I am ready to endure every torment and shed my blood, for the sake of love for my Lord Jesus Christ, whom, through misfortune, I have denied.” Having said this, he throws off the dervish’s veil from his head at the Mullah’s feet and says, this is a sign of your faith; and instead of it he places on his head the Christian cover prepared earlier. Everyone understands without words to what extent this struck both the mind and heart of the irritated and proud judge. And he, and everyone who was there, became beside themselves, and watched in amazement as the dervish suddenly declared himself not only a Christian, but also openly denounced Mohammedanism, denounced their vanity, mocked their faith, and even wickedness. So many people were saddened and confused by the unexpected boldness of this man! But since it was necessary to answer: then the first judge and all the others began to say to him: “What does such an unexpected act mean? Are you out of your mind? Are you a dervish, and when you say such things, you disgrace your faith and your honor?” To all this the martyr answered very wisely: “It is your truth that I was out of my mind, but now I have come to my senses and boldly confess my iniquity. And if you want to know how I, a dervish, say such speeches: then I will tell you the absolute truth: I went to your Kaaba 2, learned the details of your faith and realized that everything about you is false and vile.” And he told them many similar things with complete boldness. The Hagarians answered him with anger and rage: “You are drunk and you speak like a drunken man.” Therefore, the judge, considering him drunk, ordered him to be imprisoned until the darkness of drunkenness passed and he came to his senses. In the morning, that is, on Wednesday, when the Hagarians gathered in even greater numbers to Mulla, the judge ordered the martyr to be presented for a second interrogation. But the blessed one, even more strengthened in his boldness by the previous imprisonment, confessed Jesus Christ as the true God before everyone; and with greater courage than before, he began to mock their faith, so that he horrified everyone. But no matter how irritated they were by the words of the martyr, they were still nourished by the hope that he would change his thoughts; and wanting, if not to acquire him for themselves, then at least, so as not to remain completely ashamed, they began to attract him to themselves with caresses: “Will you not spare your life? - they told him; have pity on your youth. Demand what you want: we will give you money, clothes, and everything you want, whatever you want.” But the blessed one stood unshakable: he was not afraid of mortal threats and was not deceived by flattering promises; on the contrary, with amazing firmness and with an undaunted spirit he answered them: “Why are you, crazy people, threatening me with death? That is why I came here, so that out of love for my sweetest Jesus Christ, to die for Him. Why are you, vain ones, trying to change my firm intention with your seductions and promises that are insignificant to me? The only thing I can promise myself true bliss is to die for my holy faith, which I once, through misfortune, renounced. Let me die of this false life in order to acquire another, true and eternal life. I was born a Christian; I want to die a Christian. I wish this; I thirst for this; That's why I came here. Do with me what you want; I am ready to endure everything for my Lord Jesus Christ.” After this they again locked the martyr in prison and left him there until his heel. And since the Ottomans respect heels preferentially over other days, Agi and the noble inhabitants of the city have the custom of gathering on this day to the judge in order to go to the mosque with him. Whether it was because of this custom, or because of a rumor that had spread that one dervish dared to call himself a Christian before Mulla, to blaspheme and dishonor Mohammed, or for both reasons together, it was only on Friday that all the Aghi and the best inhabitants of Smyrna gathered to Mulla. In addition, a lot of ordinary people flocked. The martyr is taken out of prison, and for the third time he appears at the trial, so that he who has foolishly renounced the Holy Trinity will confess his faith in the Holy Trinity three times, as this was done entirely and in a God-loving manner. When Mulla and others asked the martyr: has he come to his senses? Then the valiant ascetic of Christ answered: “By the grace of my Christ, before I was in the mind, and now I have control of the mind; I said before, and I repeat more than once, that I was born a Christian, and I want to die a Christian. I will not exchange light for darkness - I worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, consubstantial and inseparable.” And with these words he depicted on himself the sign of the honorable cross. Hearing this, the Hagarians and seeing the inflexibility of his holy soul, despairing of the success of new attempts and attempts to distract him from Christ, unanimously decided that such an insult to the Mohammedan faith should be immediately put to death; why, the judge gave a written order to behead him with a sword. And now the valiant ascetic of Christ is led to the place of execution, like a condemned man, with his hands tied. The imams and hodzas did not stop persuading him the whole way and, by all means, winning him over to their side. But the blessed one did not listen at all to their words that were harmful to the soul; his mind was completely nailed to Christ and directed toward a blessed death for Him. He repeated one thing incessantly: “I am a Christian, I want to die as a Christian.” Truly a blessed voice! Valiant firmness! A soul flaming with divine love! Countless people of every kind and tribe living in the city flocked to such an extraordinary spectacle, that is, Turks and Greeks, Franks, and Armenians. In the midst of this crowded disgrace, the executioner, having placed the martyr, draws a sword before his eyes and flashes it to frighten the blessed one. But the martyr showed such steadfastness and such fearlessness that one of the Franks who saw this said with an oath: “I have never seen such a strong man until now!” The martyr was already ordered to bend his knees, he bowed, when suddenly an order came from the Mulla to delay the execution until the Mulla’s son came to this spectacle. The executioner hesitates for an hour or more. During all this time the martyr remained in a kneeling position; he only looked forward, bowing his head, and incessantly prayed with his mind and lips. I have no doubt that in his holy soul the judgment and condemnation of the world and the ruler of the world were clearly imagined - that the ascetic Christ himself strengthened His ascetic from above with His omnipotent grace. But Orthodox Christians trembled a lot during this hour, thinking about the weakness of human nature. Finally, Christ conquered and magnified the holy faith with the glorious martyrdom of this Alexander. The pious rejoiced, the angels rejoiced, the demons wept and the servants of delusion were ashamed when they saw the martyrdom of this valiant and wonderful ascetic, who had overcome everything in Christ Jesus our Lord. To him be glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever! Amen. The story of the seven martyrs was written in 1799. View. Arr. to Ed. Creation Holy Fathers, Part XI. page 468. Kaaba is the name of the famous Mohammedan church located in Mecca. You might be interested in: