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St. torment. Sebastian and his squad: St. Muchch. Nicostrata, Zoe, Kastoria, Tragquillina, Marcellina and Mark, Claudia, Victorina and Symphoriana, Tivurtia, Castula Sebastian, an Italian by birth, received a good education in Mediolan and, having entered military service, was noticed and distinguished for his many merits and was appointed chief of the court guard under the emperor Diocletian. Confessing the Christian faith, he, during the cruel persecution that was inflicted on Christians at that time, not wanting to perform martyrdom arbitrarily, kept his faith secret for the time being, being at the same time ready to openly confess it, and in anticipation of this, he took advantage of all opportunities to act in favor of his co-religionists and to affirm wavering Christians. Thus, Sebastian confirmed in patience to the end the two brothers, Mark and Marcellinus, who, although they endured many tortures for their faith in Christ, but placed under the supervision of one pagan, named Nicostratus, who was the warden of the prison, so that he could persuade them, at the cost of renouncing their faith, to get rid of the death penalty, and surrounded by relatives who begged them not to destroy themselves, they were finally ready to succumb to tears at the insistence of your loved ones... At this time, Sebastian came to them in the house of Nicostratus and passionately began to admonish them with his inspired speeches: - Oh, strong warriors of Christ, who have already so courageously endured many torments for Christ, will you really sacrifice your martyr’s crown for the sake of your relatives! - he turned to his close brothers, embarrassed by the sight of the suffering, - is it really for the sake of earthly passions that you will deprive yourself of the eternal glory of heaven! Be courageous! And teach by your example that the weapon of Christ’s soldiers should not be so much iron as the faith of Christ. Raise your glorious banner and do not hand it over to the enemy! Do not confuse those who weep for you with contrition; Wouldn't their tears turn to joy if they knew what you know? They think that there is no other life except the one that you are deprived of for the sake of Christ... if they knew that there was another, eternal and blessed one, they themselves would desire it and despise the temporary one, realizing that it is not worth valuing. Does it satisfy human aspirations? Doesn't it destroy all hopes? Isn’t it full of vanity, lies and grief... Doesn’t it lead into cruel misconceptions? Seducing with her illusory benefits, for their sake she raises the hand of brother against brother, like a robber against a defenseless traveler, allows injustice, pride, oppression, theft, and all this - for the sake of acquiring fleeting, changeable, fragile blessings of life, in the end, in any case, absorbed by death... - Yes, this is real life! - Sebastian continued, turning to the friends and relatives of Marcellinus and Mark, - and for her sake, with your unrighteous advice, do you want to distract your friends from the glorious path that they have already embarked on to achieve a truly blessed future life? This deceptive earthly life teaches you, parents, to distract your sons with insane sobs from the incorruptible honor of standing in the heavenly army of the immortal King. It is she who teaches you, honest wives, to relax the hard souls of the martyrs with caresses and tears and divert them from their holy intention; but you wish them not life, but death, not freedom, but slavery... So what? Even if they yielded to your prayers and advice, then, after living with you for a little while, would they not be forced to part with you? And having been separated on earth, although you will have to meet each other in the future world, but not otherwise than in the midst of torment and heavy sighs... Let them avoid these eternal torments, and learn from their example yourself! And when you follow them, you will come to the bright abodes that they will prepare for you in the villages of paradise. There you, together with them and with your children, will forever enjoy the indescribable blessings, because there is endless light, and endless joy, and bright spirits forever sing the glory of the Father... O parents! O friends! O honest wives of holy men! Do not deprive them of this eternal, blissful life! Don’t bring us to tears instead of rejoicing, don’t distract us from light to darkness! And you, who have followed Christ, Mark and Marcellinus, do not succumb to the seduction of the cunning enemy who acts on you through your loved ones; Do not allow yourself to be overcome by the prayers of your parents and the tears of your wives, nor by the admonitions of relatives and friends. Remember the words: “A man’s enemies are his own household” (Matthew 10:36), and those who separate you from God are not your friends, and their love for you is not true, but false, because it is ready to deprive you of the Kingdom of God prepared for you... Do not allow them to steal from your hands your reward, for which you have already worked so hard and are already standing at the door of the heavenly palace, where Christ awaits you! Do not turn back like Lot’s wife, lest, like her, you be turned into a soulless pillar... Do not prefer your love for parents, wives and children to love for Christ, Who said: “Whoever loves father, or mother, or son more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). Do not be so senseless that you end what you began in the spirit in the carnal way. Oh, may the Lord grant Me to shed my blood for Him before you, so that my suffering and death may serve for you as an example of the state of the soul for my Lord and yours.” With these words, Sebastian not only confirmed the wavering Marcellinus and Mark, but also converted to Christ all the pagans who were at that time in the house of Nicostratus, namely: Nicostratus himself, his wife Zoe, whom he healed from the dumbness from which she had suffered for six years, the parents of Mark and Marcellinus - Tragquillinus and Markia, and their friends: Criscentian, Eutychian, Urvan, Vitaly and Justa. Nicostratus immediately went to Claudius, who served at the prison, and ordered him to send all the prisoners to his house. Here Sebastian met them and with his saving word led them to the consciousness of the true God; then he brought the presbyter Polycarp to them, who began to prepare the converts to receive St. baptism, and over the course of several days up to 64 people were baptized in the house of Nicostratus. Among them was Claudius, serving in prison with his wife Symphorosa and his sons Symphorian and Felix, whom St. Sebastian healed him of his illness. When the father of Marcellinus and Mark, the elderly, sick and infirm Tragquillinus, was brought to the holy font, the presbyter Polycarp asked: “Does he undoubtedly believe that the Lord Jesus Christ can forgive him his sins and restore him to health?” - answered: - I believe that Christ, the Son of God and God, can do everything, but from His goodness I ask only one thing, that He forgive me my sins; I don’t care about my physical illnesses... “Meanwhile, emerging from the font, the elder received healing from an illness that had long tormented him... By this the Lord miraculously seemed to testify that He heard his prayer for one thing that He needed, and gave it to him in addition... Soon Marcus and Marcellinus were again called to the Roman eparch Agrestius to resume the test, which had been postponed at the request of their influential relatives. But having firmly established themselves in this last time, they so strongly influenced the eparch with their convictions that he himself turned to Christ and was baptized with his son Tiburtius and all his household. The rapid spread of Christians was, however, the reason for their intensified persecution, and they were watched everywhere in order to put them to death. So Zoe, the wife of Nicostratus, was taken while she was praying at the tomb of St. Ap. Petra. They starved her in prison for six days, then they hung her by her hair, smothered her with stinking smoke and finally threw her into the river. Tiber Those who gathered on the shore to search for the body of the martyr - Nicostratus, Castorius, Claudius, Victorinus and Symphorian - were captured and drowned in the sea. Elder Tragquillin was stoned and thrown into the river. Markellinus and Markus, nailed to a tree by their feet, were pierced with spears. Tiburtius, who was taken on the denunciation of Torquatus, was first subjected to standing on hot coals, and then beheaded. A certain Kastul - also a victim of the evil informer Torquatus, after many cruel tortures - was buried alive with earth. Finally, the zealous helper and strengthener of Christians, the true warrior of Christ, Sebastian, was convicted of Christianity. Diocletian ordered to take him out of the countryside and, tying him, naked, to a tree, throw arrows at him until he died. Having fulfilled this command in all precision and seeing the martyr in an insensitive position, whose entire body was covered with arrows, the soldiers left. But life had not yet died out in the tortured man, and taken from the tree at night by a pious Christian woman, after a while he was healed of his wounds in her house, where he received zealous care for him. The Christians who visited him here persuaded him to hide from Rome, but Sebastian, as soon as he finally recovered, went out into the street and, waiting for the passage of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, stood before them and publicly told them: “Your priests are telling lies and in vain they are embarrassing you with slander against Christians that they are enemies of the state! On the contrary, the country is supported by their prayers, because they continually cry out to their God for the welfare of the state and for your health." “Is it you, Sebastian, whom we ordered to kill with arrows?” - asked the emperor in surprise, who considered him dead. “God delivered me from death so that I could testify before everyone that you are wrong to persecute Christians... The intrepid defender of the truth was immediately captured and, by order of Diocletian, beaten with clubs at the hippodrome. His body was thrown into a ditch of sewage, from where it was later removed by Christians and buried in the catacombs. St. torment. Sebastian and other martyrs commemorated with him suffered in Rome in 287. “Now the relics of St. Sebastian in the Country Church named after him in Rome. For other relics, see Mordvinov” 254. † Memory of Rev. Sevastian Poshekhonsky According to the handwritten calendar, “Rev. Hieromonk Sebastian, head of the Transfiguration Monastery on the Sogoti River, Poshekhonsky miracle worker, “reposed in the summer of 7050 (1542).” Monks of the Sevastian Hermitage (abolished in 1764) and after Ven. Sebastian themselves cultivated the land and ate themselves from the labor of their hands. The Rev. taught them this by example and instructions. Sebastian. He worked for himself, giving free rein to neither his sinful body nor the dreams of his arrogant imagination. According to the instructions of the Apostle, he did not consider it piety to walk from place to place, doing nothing, with idleness. The Apostle wrote: “We exhort and persuade through our Lord Jesus Christ, that while you work in silence you eat your own bread” (2 Thess. 3:11-12). During the time of Sebastian, as well as during the time of the Apostle, many were embarrassed by the thought of the imminent end of the world, and others, instead of preparing themselves for the transition to eternity through exploits, did nothing and only spread rumors. The monk labored with devotion to the will of God. The relics of the hardworking saint rest on the site of his exploits 255. “Monthly. East." archim. Sergius, vol. II, part 2, p. 391. East. Hier. VI, 1. 190. 191. Information. about the monastery 558. 559. See about St. Gennady December 4.