Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica and Thessalonica Slavs

But Demetrius was especially great in his spiritual qualities. Blessed Demetrius, says his ancient biography, from his youth did good deeds and taught others; he taught how God's wisdom descended from heaven to earth in order to revive with its blood a man killed by sin 9 . “This Martyr of Christ Demetrius, says another ancient biography, Preacher and Teacher of Piety, imitated the exploits of the Apostles; he brought the city of Thessaloniki out of the darkness of error into the light of teaching and brought it to Christ; his life shone as well as his teaching 10. The exploits of the Great Martyr for the spread of St. faith belonged to the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th century, or to the reign of Imp. Diocletian. Although by the preaching of the Apostle of Tongues many in Thessaloniki were converted to Christ, as shown by the two Epistles to the Thessalonians, in the ensuing persecutions the faithful were defeated as classes, and the patronage of the pagan power again strengthened and multiplied the pagans in Thessalonica. And so the Proconsul of Thessaloniki had to again take upon himself the title of Apostle. According to ancient news, St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki was known for his commitment to paganism, as well as his passion for the amusements of the circus. The exploits of St. Demetrius, in favor of the true Faith, made the name of Demetrius famous; but this glory was unbearable for the pagans; They finally could no longer tolerate the successes of Christianity and decided to take revenge on Demetrius. To the delight of the pagans and unfortunately for the Christians, in 305 Maximian Galerius was declared the second ruler of the Roman Empire. The Danube regions with Macedonia, and, consequently, Thessaloniki, went to Galerius. Galerius was the most ecstatic defender of falling paganism, and therefore the most sworn enemy of the name of Christ. The Thessalonica pagans could not have waited for a better time. And everything that the ancient news says about the tormentor Demetrius can be attributed to no one more than to the superstitious tyrant Galerius 13 At the end of 305, Galerius fought with the Sarmatians and Goths, and the war ended happily; Galerius arrived in Thessaloniki, and now a difficult time began for the Thessalonica Christians. “When, as the ancient news says, Emperor Maximian lived in the city of Thessaloniki, then this superstitious man persecuted the followers of the true Faith and they were killed by him. Among them was blessed Demetrius, who without any fear showed himself to be who he was. 14 Blessed martyr Demetrius boldly offered teaching, confirmed the word with deeds of faith; From there, many of the pagans came to him and gathered on the western side of the city's large market, in a place called the copper market, where meetings usually took place in the underground sections of the public bath. In the eyes of Galerius St. Demetrius at the same time made another new fault. After a bloody war, in which so many subjects lost their lives and so many others were left without fathers and husbands, Galerius amused himself with how the giant gladiator, Vandal, killed people. And Dimitri took this fun away from him. It went like this: “One of the gladiators, Leah, was the first favorite of the tormentor, because he knew how to fight better than anyone else. The one who came out to fight against him that day was a young man of the common rank, named Nestor. The tormentor, although he breathed murder, wanted to spare his youth, and thinking that he wanted to fight such an opponent for personal gain, he promised to give Nestor money so that he would abandon his intention 17. For Galerius there was nothing great that did not depend on his gods; his favorite and giant was, in his opinion, also under the special protection of his gods, which is why calling Nestor to fight Leia seemed to Galerius a reckless impulse of youth. But Nestor did not fight Vandal for money or for earthly glory; he entered into it with the same feelings with which young David fought with Goliath, wanting to glorify the strength of Christ the Lord, whose admirers indulged in shame by Galerius. Nestor was one of those who visited Demetrius in his imprisonment; he diligently studied Demetrius’s instructions in the faith, and the words of the great Sufferer kindled in him a zeal to suffer for the name of Christ. “Servant of God Demetrius! I want to fight Leah, pray for the strength of Christ,” said young Nestor. “The saint, having marked a cross on his forehead and chest, released him with the words: and you will defeat Leah, and you will accept martyrdom for Christ.” 18 The giant Leah received a mortal blow and died immediately. Galerius was extremely ashamed and offended by that 19. Kagan Avarsky sent to the Imp. Mauritius (582–602) ambassadors with demands. The emperor refused to fulfill these demands. The irritated Kagan decided to take revenge on Mauritius in Thessaloniki, a rich trading city, especially since famine and plague then reduced the number of Thessaloniki's defenders. He gathered up to 100,000 troops and ordered to quickly go to Thessaloniki in order to appear under its walls in a day, and no more, before receiving rumors of war in Thessaloniki. The army almost all consisted of Slavs. The Avar Kagan, as the ruler of the Slavs, “called the cruel people, the Slavs tributaries (Σκλαβιών θρησκείαν) and, adding to this the barbarians from other nations, ordered the taking of God-protected Thessaloniki with arms.” Kagan himself was not with Army 32 Finally, the Solunians, on the 30th day after the opening of the siege, offered peace terms and they were accepted. “When peace was concluded, the enemies, freely coming to the walls ... themselves talked about the miracle that happened to the walls during the earthquake” 64. Nevertheless, Kagan took many captives with him to Pannonia 65. The Avars ruled the Peloponnese for 218 years, not submitting to either the Roman Emperor or anyone else, that is, from 6096 (588) from the creation of the world, which was the osmium of Mauritius, to 6313 (805), which was the fourth Imp. Nikifor the Elder 67. The Thessalonica historian does not say exactly when the Slavic tribes he mentioned occupied Macedonia and Thessaly. When describing the war of 597, he says that Thessalonians did not expect the Slavs to arrive before four days. Consequently, the Slavs lived then, although not very far from Thessaloniki, but not as close as they were later. At the end of the same war in 597, several Slavic detachments separated from the army of the Avar Khan and remained with the Greeks. But these detachments do not turn out to be so numerous as to constitute the Sagudats, and others who appear in the subsequent wars of the Slavs with Thessaloniki. The Turin Greek chronograph says that back in 588 Thessaly was occupied by the Slavs, but this should mean only a small part of it, since the main Slav settlement then belonged to Hellas. Imp. Constantine writes that Thessalian Serbia received its name from the Serbs, who, by agreement of the Emperor. Heraclius, founded it, although, after a short time, they again moved to Serbia 89. This gives us the right to believe that the strong settlement of Thessaly and Macedonia by the Slavs occurred under the Emperor. Justinian, having sent cavalry to Thrace, then went and himself against the Slavs “liberated Thessaloniki, defeated the Strymonians, Runkhins and other Slavic tribes” and resettled many of the Slavs in Asia Minor; The Praetorian Corps of 30,000 was composed of young people and was sent at the same time against the Arabs. Porphyrogenetus writes: “The third Thema (region) is Thema Strymonsky. Strymonian Theme formed part of Macedonia; In fact, there was no such Fema, but she belonged to the category of klissura. It was divided among themselves (διανεμονιαι) by the Scythians instead of the Macedonians, when Justinian Rhinometmet settled them in the Strymonian mountains and in the passes of the klissuras (gorges) 100.” Comparing these words with the history of Justinian: a) it is not difficult to guess that the Emperor calls the Slavs Scythians; that is what they were called in the language of the magnificent Byzantine Court; b) the same words say that Justinian appointed the Strymon province for the Slavs, where we see the Dragovics and Sataks-mead-makers at Kameniat, but we no longer see the Runkhins; the latter were predominantly among those whom Justinian resettled in Asia Minor. Acta § 187–190 and extract from Biey r. 177. Demetrius of Kidon also mentions the Slavic Princes killed by the Great Martyr in his monody about the Thessalonica disaster of 1346. He describes the various miracles of the Great Martyr as follows: “Resolutions of sieges, benefits in famines, healing of general diseases, extermination of Kings following the very troops (σφαγος Βασιλεων, αυτοις Σρατευμασιν επτοντων), money for the future, the salvation of one (Thessaloniki) among the general disaster.” Biy's extract from the Mazarin list. Acta, b. 177. Schaffarik Wien. Jahrbucher, vol. 46, p. 55. Sl. his map of the Slavic lands. Cantacuzene: “Rentina, a fortress - a day’s journey from Thessaloniki.” (Hist. 3, 38). He also says that this fortress lies on the Balbei coast, established in the rock (Hist. 9. 28); Rentina is mentioned in the Novella of the Emperor Leo (Canlaciueni Hist. 2, 35. 5, 3, 38, 39, 46). About Rikhii Procopius, “not far from Thessaloniki the river Rikhii flows. It, passing through a good, black-earth country, makes its source in the sea - a beautiful river, with pleasant, easy-to-drink water; the soil produces many aromas and the best olive oil.” De aedefic. 4, 3. Chronogr. p. 303, 304. ed Paris. Zonara Annal. hb. 14, 22. Kedrin Hist. r. 441. Ephraim b. 69, ed., Bonn. S. 452, 453. Lists of Bishops, ed. Tafel (Constantinus porphyr. de provinciis p. 47–49. Tubingae 1847). The ancient news about the Patriarchates says: “The first throne of the supreme Apostle Peter... (extends) to Ravenna, the Longobards and Thessaloniki, to the Slavs (Σθλάβων), the Aravisci (Pannonia) and the Avars and Scythians.” (Codini de offic. aulae p. 363). There is no doubt that this news depicts the state of affairs that preceded the time of P. Photius. (Following list of departments of Emperor Leo in Tafel). But who does it mean by the name Slavs and Scythians? It seems, looking from Rome, it speaks in order about the Slovenes, the Pannonian Slavs and then the Macedonian. Although the monuments of the Roman Church include the day of St. Demetrius between the feast days of the Martyrs, this belongs only to antiquity; now, for example, even Buttler (Ό. Leben d. Heiligen. T. I–XXIII. 1841), there is no name of St. Demetrius among the Saints. And such respect for St. Wm. Demetrius, which the Thessalonica and Slavic Churches showed to him, never existed in the Roman Church. See note above. 25, 24.