But the hater of good, the primordial enemy of the human race, the devil, knowing that Eleutherius, by his jealousy and, moreover, living in the circle of virtuous elders on Athos, could himself ascend to the heights of virtues, began to confuse him with various thoughts and persuade him first to go to Jerusalem, to Sinai, and then to some other country. Recognizing in this suggestion the cunning of the devil, who wanted to divert him from his real path, the blessed one, with Divine help, did not deign to the evil suggestions and sailed to the Holy Mountain with the progumen of the Dochiar monastery, Eugene Mytilenets. Arriving at the Holy Mountain, Eleutherius stayed with this pro-abbot for two months, and then moved from him to the Esphigmen monastery. From here, after a little time, he returned again to Dokhiar. Here he learned from one hieromonk named Dosifei that his cousin Onuphrius was in the Iveron monastery, and he cried with joy, believing that with his influence he would carry out his intention.
But, on the other hand, ashamed of his renunciation, he did not then go to Onuphrius, although he was prompted to do so by Dositheus, but on the contrary, after some time he retired to the pier belonging to the Stavronikita monastery, to the confessor Cyril of Mytilenets. He, having accepted confession from him, sent him to the sacred monastery of the honest and glorious Prophet and Forerunner of the Lord John, to the confessor Harlampy.
On the way to this monastery, Eleutherius went to the Iveron monastery to see his brother Onuphrius there. Their meeting was deeply touching. Onuphrius, shocked to the depths of his soul, sobbed inconsolably about the great misfortune of Eleutherius: what bitter words did he not utter then! “The beast is fierce,” he said, like another Jacob, “he has devoured you (Gen. 37:33), brother; a fierce bloodsucker has torn you to pieces, Eleutherius,” and he expressed many similar things to his brother. And Eleutherius shed streams of tears from his eyes; and thus having received great benefit from his brother, he retired to the mentioned confessor Harlampius. After 29 days, at the strong request of Onufrieva, the confessor Hieromonk Nicephorus, who was in the same monastery of the Forerunner and famous for his spiritual reasoning, received Eleutherius. Having sincerely confessed to his new confessor, Eleutherius joyfully fulfilled the penance assigned to him. His first victory over the devil under this new leadership was the victory over the passion of gluttony.
One day, languishing from a long fast and abstinence, he saw several onions: the thought immediately came to him to secretly eat one of them (and meanwhile, he was not ordered to eat anything else except dry bread and water). When at 9 o'clock bread and water were served to him and the one who brought them left, then Eleutherius took the onion to eat it, but, remembering the sin of disobedience and secret eating, the blessed one was horrified, for at that moment various thoughts contradictory to one another fell upon him with an inordinate weight, with which he struggled for three whole hours, until finally, with anger, he threw the onion to the ground, trampled it and tasted only the bread with water.
But who can worthily tell about his exploits, immeasurable fasting, vigil, tears, heartfelt contrition, meekness, constant attention to himself, affection towards everyone, silence, silence and compassion for his neighbors? Thus, Eleutherius in a short time achieved the perfection of virtues and subjugated the flesh to the spirit; his soul, embraced by Divine zeal, no longer clung to anything temporary and perishable. Meanwhile, a fiery desire for martyrdom was more and more kindled in his soul, so that he finally announced to his spiritual father his indispensable intention to undertake the feat of martyrdom and asked his consent to this.
At that time, such tenderness and crying were granted to him by God that no one saw him without tears and sighs; without them he did not even eat food. Remembering his fall, he, like the prophet David, said: “I forgot to take away my bread because of the voice of my groaning” (Ps. 102:5. 6).
Walking steadily along the path of asceticism and always thinking only about martyrdom, one night Eleutherius sees in a dream that he, being outside his kaliva, was completely flooded with light emanating from the cross, which consisted of bright stars and was visible on the eastern side of the sky. Amazement and astonishment took possession of Eleutherius, but at the same time, indescribable joy was felt in his heart. Near this cross he noticed a beautiful young man who said to him:
- Eleutherius! This is the weapon with the power of which the first Christian king, the great Constantine, defeated his enemies: take it, go on your way.” Waking up after this vision, he fell to the ground and glorified and thanked God with copious tears. This sign served him as reassurance in the will of God and a strong motivation to the feat of martyrdom. Out of his humility, he kept this vision as a secret until the very hour of departure for martyrdom.
As he set off to suffer, he also spoke about another comforting vision.
“At one time,” he said, “I saw a high and beautiful throne, on it sat the Most Holy Theotokos with great glory and splendor; Around the throne stood a countless number of warriors and servants, each of whom worshiped the Mother of God and then left. Then, like others, I, with great fear and consciousness of my unworthiness, approached Her and bowed. The Mother of God put Her hand on my head and held it for several minutes; At that time I woke up and felt inexplicable joy in my heart, and soon after that, tears involuntarily flowed from my eyes in an abundant stream and especially sweetened my soul.
Finally Evfimi. went to Constantinople, accompanied by the monk Gregory.
On Palm Sunday, having received the Holy Mysteries, he put on Turkish clothes and appeared before the Grand Vizier Rushut Pasha. Throwing the Turkish headdress to the ground, he began to trample on it and blaspheme Mohammed and Islam. The vizier was amazed at the audacity of the 20-year-old youth, thinking that he was drunk or crazy. Euthymius was put in stocks, thrown into prison, and then brought to the vizier for interrogation. Seeing the young man’s resilience, the vizier ordered him to be severely beaten, and after torture he persuaded him to renounce Christ. The monk remained adamant, denouncing the Muslim faith, and the vizier ordered his beheading.
When the vizier heard these daring and accusatory speeches, he was completely changed by anger, being unable to bear them any longer, and, despairing of shaking the determination and firmness of the thoughts of the confessor of Christ, he condemned him to be beheaded by the sword. Then the executioner took Euthymius and wanted to tie his hands back, but the martyr did not allow him and said to him: “Why do you tie me up when I came here uninvited? You didn’t bring me in as a criminal, did you?” “After some thought, the executioner left him.
So, the glorious ascetic of Christ came out of that lawless trial with a cheerful and joyful face, not as if he were about to die, but as if at a wedding feast, holding a cross in his right hand, and in his left hand, which surprised not only Christians, but even the very enemies of the saint. our faith.
Having reached a certain place, the executioners stopped. At this time, the martyr, facing east and stretching out his hands to heaven, said a fiery prayer to the Lord God for himself and for the whole world. At the end of the prayer, he made the sign of the cross on himself, kissed the honest cross that he held in his hands, and, all full of the joy and grace of God, bowed his knees and his head with the words: “Lord! I commend my spirit into Your hands.” Then the executioner struck his head with his sword, but did not cut it off immediately. “The beating is more accurate,” the martyr said to the executioner at this failure. - Oh, wonderful courage, most luminous ascetic! “Then the executioner struck a second time, but again it was unsuccessful - he cut off only part of the sufferer’s flesh. After this, he slaughtered the martyr like a sheep in the throat, and thus the prophecy of the martyr was fulfilled, who had previously said that they would slaughter him like a sheep.
So, the courageous, invincible and glorious Euthymius finally received the blessed death so ardently desired by him in 1814 on March 22, Palm Sunday, at 6 o’clock in the afternoon. To the amazement of all spectators, his suffering body remained on its knees even after the slaughter, but in order not to be disgraced anymore, the wicked deliberately pushed the body, and it fell.