Страдание святой мученицы Дорофеи и с нею Христины, Каллисты и Феофила

In the country of Cappadocia, in the city of Caesarea in 1238, there lived one pious virgin named Dorothea. She spent all her time serving God, with humility and meekness, in purity, spiritual sobriety and chastity. Moreover, she was a girl so wise that even learned people could not compare with her in this. And everyone who knew her glorified the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had such a virgin as His servant: and her gaze was filled with reverence, and her life was holy, and her wisdom was incomparable, and her virginity was immaculate. In the love of Christ she was so perfect that she was fully worthy of the heavenly palace. But for His sake she further intensified her feat. Conquering her flesh and the devil, Saint Dorothea wove for herself a special crown: the crown of virginity and the crown of martyrdom; and rejoicing, she went to her Bridegroom Christ. And how she suffered for Him - this will be conveyed in the subsequent narrative. When the fame of Saint Dorothea spread among people, rumors about her reached the hegemon Saprikius, the persecutor of Christians. He immediately went to the city of Caesarea and, seizing the holy virgin, ordered her to be presented to his unrighteous court. Saint Dorothea, appearing before the wicked judge, prayed in her soul to the Lord and called on God and her Savior for help. - Tell me, what is your name? “I called you for this,” continued Sapriky, “so that, at the command of our glorious kings, you would make a sacrifice to the great gods.” - God, the King of heaven, commanded me that I serve Him alone. So the Scripture says: “Then Jesus saith unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10). “So say to them: the gods who did not create heaven and earth will disappear from the earth and from under the heavens” (Jer. 10:11). Therefore, we must judge: the command of which king should we obey more - the earthly or the heavenly? And who should they listen to - God or man? What are kings? - nothing more than mortal people; so are your gods, whose idols you worship. “If you want to be alive, healthy and undefiled,” objected Sapriky, “leave Christianity and make sacrifices to the gods; if not, then, according to the law, you will be severely tortured, and you will serve as a terrible example for others. - I will be an example of the fear of God for all the faithful - may they fear God, but may they not be afraid of cruel people; after all, they do what evil dogs do: senselessly and unconsciously they torment innocent people, rage, rage, bark and grab and torment those passing by with their teeth. “As I see,” Sapriky said to this, “you have decided to remain invariably in this wicked confession and want to die an equally painful death with the others.” Listen to me, make a sacrifice to the gods, and you will be freed from severe torment. - Your torment is temporary, but the torment of Gehenna is eternal. So, in order to avoid eternal suffering, I will not be afraid of temporary suffering! I remember the words of my Lord: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). “That’s why you should fear the gods, so that they don’t get angry with you: if you don’t make a sacrifice to them, they will destroy both your soul and body.” “I have already told you, Sapriky,” answered Saint Dorothea, “that you cannot in any way convince me to make a sacrifice to the demons who live in vain idols.” Having heard this, Sapriky became very angry and, turning to the servants who had already prepared for execution, said to them: “Place her at the place of execution, so that, fearing torment, she agrees to become a servant of our gods.” Then the servant of God Dorothea, standing at the place of execution, courageously and fearlessly said to her judge: -Why are you delaying in agony? Do what you want to do, so that I can quickly have the opportunity to see Him, for the sake of love for Whom I am not afraid of suffering or death. - But who is this One for whom you long for so much? – asked Sapriky. -Where is this Christ? – asked the hegemon. – By the omnipotence of His Divinity He is everywhere, but as humanity we confess Him as existing in heaven and sitting at the right hand of His Father; with Him, with God the Father, and with the Holy Spirit, He is one Divinity. It is He who calls us to the paradise of eternal joy; there the gardens bear fruit constantly; lilies, roses and other beautiful flowers always bloom there; the fields, mountains and hills in that paradise are forever green, and the springs are sweet; the souls of the saints in Christ rejoice there unceasingly. O Saprikiy, if you had believed my words, you would have escaped destruction and entered this paradise of ineffable bliss with God. Then Sapricius said to her: “You need to leave this delusion and make a sacrifice to the gods, and then get married and have fun in your life, so that you do not perish in the same way as your fathers perished because of their madness.” – I will not sacrifice to demons, since I am a Christian, and I will not marry, for I am already the bride of Christ. And this is my faith; she will lead me into paradise and the palace of my Bridegroom. And then the saint was cruelly tortured. After the torture, Sapriky ordered Saint Dorothea to be taken to certain two wives - sisters who were related to each other - named Christina and Callista; at first they were Christians, but then, fearing torment, they rejected Christ and, out of despair, began to live wickedly, spending their time in luxury and the vanity of the world; for their apostasy from Christ they were enriched by idolaters. Sapriky sent the holy virgin Dorothea to these women; at the same time he ordered to tell them: “Just as you, having abandoned Christian delusion and sorcery, made sacrifices to the invincible gods and received gifts from us, so turn this crazy woman away from Christian madness and turn to our gods; and we, if you manage to do this, will enrich you with even greater gifts. These women, taking the holy virgin into their house, began to convince her: - Submit to the judge and listen to his advice; like us, save yourself from torment: after all, most of all you need to take care not to destroy this temporary and beautiful life in the torments and not die before your time. - Oh, if only you, having listened to my advice, repented of the idolatry you made and turned to Christ again! You would save yourself from the torment of Gehenna; for our Lord is good, rich in bounties and merciful to those who turn to Him with all their hearts. Then Christina and Callista said to her: – Since we have already perished, having fallen away from Christ, how can we turn to Him again? The saint answered them: – It is a much greater sin to despair of God’s mercy than to worship idols; Therefore, do not despair and do not doubt our merciful and skillful Physician: He can heal all your ulcers. There is no wound that He is not willing to heal. That is why He is called the Savior, because He saves everyone, because He is the Redeemer, because He redeems everyone, and that is why He is called the Liberator, because He gives freedom to everyone. And you just turn to Him with all your soul with repentance, and you, without a doubt, will be worthy of forgiveness. Then these two sisters, Christina and Callista, fell at the feet of the saint, began to cry and began to ask her to pray for them to the merciful God, so that He would accept their repentance and grant them forgiveness. After this, the holy virgin, with tears in her eyes, cried out to the Lord: - God, who said: “I do not want the death of the sinner, but that the sinner should turn from his way and live. Turn yourselves, turn from your evil ways; Why should you die” (Ezek.33:11)? 1239 Lord Jesus Christ, who told us that “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance” (Luke 15:7). Show Thy goodness to these Thy sheep, whom the devil wanted to kidnap and tear away from You, and return them to Thy fence to Thy flock, and, O good Shepherd, following their example, may all those who have fallen away from You be converted! After some time, Hegemon Sapriky ordered to call to him, together with Saint Dorothea, Christina and Callista, and when they arrived, he asked the two sisters in private: - Were you able to bow Dorothea to our gods? Then Christina and Callista answered the hegemon in a loud voice: “We sinned and acted very badly, that, fearing the torment of time, we sacrificed to idols. Therefore, we begged Saint Dorothea, and she admonished us to repent, so that we could receive forgiveness of our sins from Christ our Lord. Sapriky, having torn his clothes, was filled with great rage; he ordered to tie the two sisters together, connecting them to each other along the back, and throw them into a tarred vat, and then, placing firewood under it, burn them. Then the holy sisters began to pray like this: - Lord Jesus Christ! Accept our repentance and grant us forgiveness. When these virgins were so scorched, Saint Dorothea, looking at this, rejoiced and exclaimed: - Go before me, O sisters, and be convinced of the forgiveness of your sins and know that the crown of martyrdom, which you lost at first, you have now, without a doubt, acquired again; and now your merciful Father will come out to meet you, as if rejoicing at the conversion of the prodigal son; He will embrace you and glorify you as His sincere daughters, and exalt you before His Angels, and place you among the host of holy martyrs. And so the holy wives, Christina and Callista, half-sisters, died painfully in repentance, receiving from Christ, along with forgiveness, the crown of victory. After this, Saprikiy ordered that Saint Dorothea be seized again for torture and, having hanged her, torment her as before. The saint, amidst such great torment, was overwhelmed with such joy that it was as if she was already entering the palace of her beloved Bridegroom - Christ. - What does it mean that joy seems to appear on your face, and you, while enduring torment, are apparently very happy? “In all my life I have never been so happy as I am now, and first of all I rejoice for those whose souls the devil took away from God through you, and now Christ has taken them back again.” Now there is great joy in heaven; for the Angels rejoice over their souls, the Archangels rejoice, and with them all the holy Apostles, martyrs and prophets rejoice. So, Sapriky, hasten to quickly fulfill what you have planned, so that I too can quickly move on to the bliss of the holy virgins and rejoice in heaven with those with whom I cried on earth. Then Sapriky ordered the holy martyr to be scorched with burning candles. She, rejoicing even more, with a bright and joyful face, called out to her judge: “You and your idols are insignificant!” After these words, the tormentor ordered Saint Dorothea to be taken down from the tree and beaten with his hands. “Let him be beaten,” he said, “the face that is swearing at me.” When they beat the saint, she did not cease to rejoice, and those who beat her were exhausted. Then the hegemon issued the following death sentence: “The proudest maiden Dorothea, who did not want to make sacrifices to the immortal gods and be alive, but wished rather to die for an unknown person called Christ, we command to be beheaded with a sword. The Holy Virgin Dorothea, hearing this, exclaimed loudly: - I thank You, lover of souls, that You call me to Your paradise and bring me into Your most holy chamber. And so, when they led the holy martyr to death and she was leaving the praetor, a certain scientist and adviser to the hegemon, named Theophilus, mockingly said to her: “Listen, bride of Christ, send me an apple and pink flowers from the paradise of your Bridegroom.” Saint Dorothea answered him: - I really will do it. When they arrived at the place of execution, the martyr begged the executioner to allow her to pray a little to her Lord. And when she finished the prayer, the Angel of the Lord appeared to her in the form of a very handsome youth; on a clean board he carried three beautiful apples and three pink flowers. Then the holy martyr said to him: “I pray you, take all this to Theophilus and tell him: “Now you have what you asked for.” Having said this, she bowed her holy head under the sword and, being beheaded, triumphantly departed to Christ the Lord, her Bridegroom, having loved Him from her youth, and now received from His hand, in the palace of heaven, the crown of victory. Theophilus, mocking the promise of the holy maiden Dorothea, said to his friends: “Now, when they were leading Saint Dorothea to death, who called herself the bride of Christ and boasted that she would enter His paradise, I said to her: listen to me, bride of Christ, when you enter the paradise of your Bridegroom, send me from there a few pink flowers and apples.” “Indeed, I will send them to you.” Having said this, Theophilus and his friends laughed. And suddenly an Angel appeared to him with three beautiful apples and three flowers and said to him: – According to her promise, the holy virgin Dorothea sent you all this from the paradise of her Bridegroom. Then Theophilus, seeing the apples and flowers and taking them in his hands, loudly exclaimed: – Christ is the true God, and there is not a single untruth in Him! Friends and comrades said to him: “Are you, Theophilus, raging or mocking?” “I don’t rage or mock, but a sound mind makes me believe in the true God, Jesus Christ.” - But what does this sudden change of yours mean? - they asked him. - Tell me, what month is it now? - Theophilus asked his friends. “February,” they answered him. “At this time of winter,” Theophilus said then, “all of Cappadocia is covered with frost and ice, and there is not a single tree or any plant to be decorated with leaves; So, what do you think - where do these flowers and these apples with twigs and leaves come from? Having said this, he showed them apples and pink flowers. Theophilus' friends, seeing these fruits and smelling their wonderful fragrance, said: “Even in the usual time for fruits and flowers, we have never seen anything like this.” To this Theophilus answered them: “When the holy virgin Dorothea was led to her death, I considered her crazy, since she called Christ her groom and kept talking about His paradise. Then, mockingly, I told her, as if she were crazy: when you come to the paradise of your Bridegroom, send me apples and flowers from there. She answered me: “I will really do it.” Then I laughed at her words, but now, after her beheading, a small boy suddenly appeared before me, no more than four years old and of indescribable beauty; I didn’t think that he even knew how to speak, but, pushing me, this youth began to speak like a perfect man: “The Holy Virgin Dorothea,” he told me, “as she promised, has sent you gifts from her Bridegroom’s paradise.” Having said this, he gave me everything sent into my hands and became invisible. Having said this, Theophilus exclaimed: – Blessed are those who believe in Christ and suffer for the sake of His holy name, for He is the true God, and everyone who believes in Him is truly wise! After these and similar appeals from Theophilus, some came to the hegemon and said to him: “Your adviser Theophilus, who hitherto hated Christians and tried to destroy them by cruel death, now publicly praises and blesses the name of a certain Jesus Christ, and many of those who listened to his speeches believed in this Man. The hegemon immediately ordered Theophilus to be brought to him and asked him: – What did you say just now in public? “I praised Christ, whom I had previously, until this day, blasphemed.” The hegemon said to him: “I am surprised at you, a reasonable man, that you are now glorifying the name of the One whose worshipers you have hitherto persecuted.” “That’s why I believed in Christ as the true God,” answered Theophilus, “because He suddenly turned me from error to the path of truth and deigned for me to know Him, the True God.” - All those inclined to wisdom are more and more successful in wisdom, but you, from being wise, suddenly became insane, calling God the One whom the Jews crucified, as you heard from the Christians themselves. – I heard that Christ was crucified, and I was mistaken, not considering Him God and blaspheming daily. Now I repent of my previous errors and blasphemies and confess Him as the True God. “Where and when did you become a Christian,” the hegemon asked him, “if you have been making sacrifices to the gods until this very day?” “At that very hour,” answered Theophilus, “when he believed in Christ and confessed Him, then he became a Christian; and now with all my heart I believe in the immortal Christ, the Son of God, I preach His true name, the holy name, the undefiled name - a name in which neither hypocrisy nor the delusion that reigns in idols is found. - So, then our gods are a delusion? “How can there not be lies in those idols,” answered Theophilus, “which the human hand made of wood, forged from copper and iron and sculpted from tin, - on which owls nest, and spiders weave their webs, but inside they are full of mice?” And if I now speak a lie, then let me be a lying man; Look for yourself, am I not telling the truth? And since I do not lie, you yourself will soon agree with the truth and turn away from lies. For you, as a judge who judges the lies of others, must yourself turn from lies to the truth - Christ God. – So, our gods are not living beings? “In idols we see a human likeness,” Theophilus responded to this, “but they are insensitive: God is an invisible, living being and the Giver of all life.” Idols, if they are made of expensive material, are usually guarded so that they are not stolen by thieves, but the God of Heaven is not guarded by anyone, but He protects everyone, observing His creation. - O damned Theophilus! I see that you want to die a cruel death. “I strive to find a good life,” answered Blessed Theophilus. After this, the hegemon said: “Know that if you remain in this madness of yours, then I will give you over to great torment, and then I will order you to be put to a cruel death.” “Now all I want is to die for Christ God,” answered Theophilus. “Remember your house, your wife, your children and your relatives,” the hegemon said then, “and do not foolishly give yourself up to a cruel death, for it is truly madness to voluntarily give yourself up to those torments and executions with which villains are usually punished.” To this the holy martyr replied: - This is not madness, but great wisdom - who, for the sake of unspeakable and eternal blessings and eternal life, accepted a premature death, not paying attention to these brief and temporary torments. “So, you choose torment for yourself rather than peace, and you wish for death rather than life?” “I’m afraid of torment,” Theophilus responded to this, “and I tremble at death,” but those torments that will have no end, and I’m horrified by that death that entails eternal execution. The torment with which you can betray me will soon come to an end, but the execution prepared for idolaters will never end! Then the hegemon gave orders to hang Saint Theophilus naked on a tree and to beat him cruelly. When they began to beat the saint, he said: - Now I am a completely Christian, for I am hanged on a tree, and it is like the Cross. So, I thank You, Christ God, that You have granted me to be hanged on Your sign. “You damned one,” said the hegemon, “spare your body!” - Damned one, have mercy on your soul! - Theophilus answered. “I do not spare my temporary life, but for this my soul will be saved forever.” Then the tormentor, becoming even more angry, ordered the martyr to be whittled with iron claws and scorched with candles. The saint, as if not feeling suffering, rejoiced in his torments and only said: - Christ, Son of God, I confess You - number me among Your saints! His face was joyful at the same time. After the tormentor’s servants were exhausted from their labor, hegemon Sapriky issued the following death sentence against the saint: “We order Theophilus, who until now has not made a sacrifice to the immortal gods, and who has now become corrupted and even deviated from our gods to the Christian host, to behead his head with a sword.” Saint Theophilus, hearing this, exclaimed: - Thank you, Christ my God! And, rejoicing, he bowed his holy head under the sword. Having been beheaded, he was crowned with the crown of martyrdom and, coming to the Lord at the eleventh hour of his life, accepted a reward equal to the first (Matthew 20:1-16), - in the Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory forever, amen. Cappadocia is the ancient name of the area in the East of Asia Minor, between the Cilician Taurus, Euphrates, Black Sea and the river. Gadis. Caesarea is the main city of Cappadocia. Prayer of Basil the Great to St. Communion. 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