Страдание святого мученика Кодрата и прочих с ним

The Holy Martyr Kodrat was born and raised under the following circumstances. During the cruel persecution of Christians by wicked kings and princes, confessors of Christ were subjected to terrible torture and violent death; therefore, many believers, fearing unbearable torment, left cities, homes and property; fleeing, they hid in the mountains and deserts to keep St. faith in Christ, agreeing to live better with beasts than with wicked idolaters. During these difficult times, a pious woman named Rufina, out of fear of torment, fled from Corinth in 1793 into the desert and hid there in impassable places. During her flight from the city, Rufina was pregnant and, at the proper time, gave birth to a male child in the desert and then, having lived only a few days, died. God, who gives food to all flesh, opens His hand and satisfies all living things (Ps. 103:27-28), did not abandon the orphaned baby, but appeared to him as father and mother, educator and breadwinner. At the command of the Almighty God, a cloud descended from above and, creeping along the ground, shed sweet dew on the baby’s lips. In this way, the clouds fed the baby with milk or honey until he grew up and began to feed on desert grains. Like St. John the Baptist, the baby lived in the desert, protected by God, instructed and admonished to know God (Luke 1:80) by the Holy Spirit. Already at a young age he was found by believers; they brought him to the city, where he learned to read books and mastered the art of medicine. But he healed not so much illnesses with his knowledge as he healed them with the grace given to him from above. As he had been accustomed to desert silence since childhood, he especially tried to move away from the bustle of people: loving solitude, he spent most of his life in the mountains and deserts, indulging in the thought of God. When he came to the city to satisfy needs, he showed innumerable benefits to everyone, healing bodily illnesses and healing mental ailments with the word of God. But he did not remain in the city for long, rushing again to the desert solitude that was pleasant to him, in which he approached old age. Here, in the desert, those who loved him in Christ came to him, wanting to enjoy the vision of his holy face and receive instruction from his inspired conversations; such were Cyprian, Dionysius and Anekt, Paul and Crescent, who together with him suffered for Christ. Their suffering occurred in this way. By order of the wicked Roman emperor Decius in 1794, hegemon Jason came to Corinth to torture and kill Christians. Seizing Christians, he threw them into prison. At this time, together with his blessed friends Cyprian, Dionysius, Anectus, Paul and Crescent, St. Kodrat; they were thrown into prison with many Christians who were already there in bonds. After some time, Jason sat down at the wicked judgment seat, ordering the Christians to be taken out of prison and brought before him for questioning. Among them the oldest was St. Kodrat: as a commander he walked ahead of the chosen army of Christ, wanting to fearlessly answer the tormentor for everyone. The torturer turned to the saint with these words: - Kodrat! What made you so crazy that you want to voluntarily surrender to severe torment? And what are you hoping for, fearlessly choosing chains and prison, deprived of your fatherland and friends? Why do you not obey the royal laws, so that, having bowed to the gods, you can enjoy the joys of this life with us? “Nobody,” answered St. Kodrat, who has a sound mind, will not renounce this life. But since God gave this life, it is necessary to love the Giver more than the given, to send gratitude to the great Benefactor, praising Him, leading a virtuous life and expanding His glory everywhere with our suffering. One should not love this short-lived life so much that, for fear of losing it, one should give idols the honor due to the only God! For what other God can we honor as truly perfect, except He who has enriched us from the beginning with the eternal gifts of His love? And in these great gifts, Whom can we recognize if not Christ the Savior Himself? And who can we truly call Savior if not Jesus, who endured torment and death for us? And we, who want to be virtuous, must first of all endure torment for true faith and piety and in no case fall away from them. The intention of those who seek to seduce and seduce true zealots of the Divine mysteries is evil, and their prayer is sinful. Everyone needs to choose the best. We must take care not to rush to follow people who only bear the image of virtue; but one should delve into their very deeds to see if they are evil and do not bring great fear of destruction. Know that we, fulfilling the commandments of our fathers, are heading towards what is best, so do not try to convince us by hostile actions to convince us to deviate from our path and leave Christ. For us, the best advisor is the truth of God, and the laws of piety have great power of persuasion; consonant with each other, they connect us with God. Take into account also that according to the general law of nature, everyone must die, and from this law no one can be free. With the onset of the hour of death, all unjust deeds and thoughts of men perish, and short-term glory turns to dust. On the contrary, the deeds generated by a good life bring to the people who perform them eternal glory that survives their death. So we, having firmly decided not to give up our intention to courageously suffer for Christ, will leave an example for those who wish to completely imitate us. After all, right-thinking and believing people only think about this, so that, having holy examples of a better life, they can imitate them and through this succeed in perfection. To these words Jason said to the saint: - Kodrat! If you honor the God whose benefits you have enjoyed since your youth, then you do well to be grateful. But be careful that, while preaching about Christ the man, you do not despise the divine nature. Saint Kodrat answered the hegemon: “If you wish, putting aside anger and changing rage to meekness, to listen to me, then although it is not convenient to talk about such great subjects, for which I myself am little capable, I will still tell you something. “Explain to us,” suggested the hegemon, “as clearly as possible your teaching about Christ.” Saint Kodrat answered this: – God laid the beginning of the world in His will, created the world with the Word and confirmed it with the power of the Holy Spirit. He who willed the world into being is the Father, the Word who created it is the Son, and the One who established it is the Holy Spirit. When the beautiful world was created, intended by the Creator for a specific purpose, the Creator was pleased that someone would enjoy the benefits He created and glorify Him in gratitude. Therefore, he created the human race in order to convey to the latter everything visible. Having breathed the breath of life into the first man, He led him into Paradise - a place of indescribable sweets. Man, together with the helper created for him, seeing the diversity of the most beautiful world, rejoiced and received from God the power to enjoy the Gardens of Eden. Our forefathers, reflecting on the great purpose with which they were placed by God in Paradise, decided that they should worthily thank the Creator and Benefactor, and began to lead a virtuous life, observing the commandment established by God for them not to eat from one tree. But the crafty deceiver the devil, driven by rage, carrying flattery on his lips and malice within, poured out all the poison of his malice on the first parents, wanting to deprive them of heavenly life: destroying their honor, he instilled in them a passionate desire to violate the commandment of God and, moreover, with their permission, on his crafty advice. As a result of this, it happened that those who lived in Paradise with God fell from the grace of God and lost Paradise, being expelled from it. From that time on, those who had previously been participants in the glory of God, as if bound by the bonds of sin, began to live in poverty, serving empty desires. But God had mercy on His creation and mercifully looked upon human weakness; He deigned, having hidden the Divinity in the flesh He had assumed, to come to us, damned and lost, in order to free us from the bonds of the enemy and those enslaved to the kingdom of death, to bring us to freedom, delivering us from destruction. Therefore, He deigned that His Word, having dwelt at the end of years (Gal.4:4) in the most pure womb of the Virgin Mary, through incarnation, clothed itself with the whole man. The Most Pure Virgin, having conceived from the Holy Spirit, gave birth to God in the flesh. And thus God, whom we call Christ, was truly seen in the flesh by human eyes. And He revealed Himself to people as the True God, truly clothed with the whole of man from the Virgin, who rebelled against the enemy’s power and expanded the boundaries of His mountainous kingdom. He destroyed the laws of death and, by Divine power, broke its bonds, devastated hell, brought out of it the ancestors with many people descended from them, and the first, as the one who delivered all peoples and countries from destruction, was called the Savior. Having revealed the treasures of His mercy, He wished that they should be common to everyone. Having freed everyone from the painful temptation, He protects His inheritance free and unharmed from destruction. Nothing is a mystery to Him: neither the beginning of our birth, nor the period of our life, nor the end of death, nor anything else unknown, but everything that is established by the law of the Father is known and clear to the Son, who carries out His will. He is the Christ whom we preach. He is the One who is concerned about the salvation of the human race. Always and everywhere He exists, He gives us the inexhaustible wealth of His goodness, He is inseparably present with those who serve Him and helps them. The hegemon, although amazed at the speeches of Saint Kodratus, however, not wanting to believe the revealed truth, said: - It seems to me, Kodrat, that you are telling lies about lofty objects, since you allow God to have purely human properties, claiming that He could have been contained by the womb of the Virgin, who, while pregnant, gave birth to Christ. And so you claim that one God was seen on earth wearing a human body, and the other True God was somewhere else. – Unholy people should not experience the mysteries of piety, for the great task of knowing them is not easy for everyone, and we do not allow unbelievers to penetrate into them. The Son of God voluntarily humbled Himself, condescending to the image of a servant, and, being God, deigned to become man in order to rescue us from slavery to the devil. You, as a person filled with unbelief and atheism, cannot understand this; but know that you will not tear us away from Christ either by insidious cunning or violent threats. Then the hegemon ordered the faithful servant of Christ, naked, to beat him without remorse with a stick, which the merciless executioners carried out with cruelty. The holy martyr bravely endured the beatings and during them said to the tormentor: “Don’t you know, hegemon, that everything forced by force is contrary to freedom and is not suitable for persuasion? The one who persuades in this way shows himself to be a violent person, while the one who advises and exhorts is meek and philanthropic. Therefore, when you incline us through torment to worship idols, do not hope to draw us into your wickedness by force, so that we would reject piety out of fear. Imbued with love for Christ, we do not pay attention to both flattering caresses and torments that you can invent; Christ alleviates all sorrows and illnesses with the hope of reward, strengthens us in not obeying the enemy, and makes us invincible and steadfast in the feat of suffering. Even more enraged by these words, the torturer ordered the saint to be hanged upside down, his body to be whittled with iron claws, and the passion-bearer to be scorched by lighting a fire under him. But he, enduring everything with valor, remained unshaken. Following this, the hegemon turned with flattering words to Saint Cyprian, trying to persuade him to agree with himself. But Saint Cyprian, although still young, nevertheless fearlessly prepared himself for torment. Saint Kodrat spoke to him and others, who were preparing for torment with him and were already taking off their clothes: - O my friends and companions! Think about how many benefits the Lord has prepared for you: honor for piety, glorification for martyrdom, and especially do not forget that you are becoming worthy of the mercy of Jesus Christ, Who will soon show you His help from above. So, now we must show unshakable faith in Christ God. Now the time has come for achievement, and therefore fulfill the law of love without hesitation, laying down your soul for the One Whom you love. You must show yourself as an example for everyone who wants to be considered worthy of suffering for Christ. Serve your strong patience to the surprise of everyone who looks at you. Now the real difference between good and evil is being learned. Nowadays we must especially take care of maintaining piety, so that there is no disagreement in faith - stick to the same faith and the same confession, for you will soon appear before God at the Last Judgment. Do not deviate from the path of virtue, as those who will soon move to Christ, having completed their course. Confess with a kind heart the Good God; do not spare the color of your youth, intending to soon move on to an ageless life. Think that the end is at the door (Matthew 24:33) and that, being young, you can more easily, as having bodily strength, be able to endure torment for Christ God. So, boldly surrender yourself to torment and endure it courageously: having defeated the enemy, you will receive glorification from the Lord and will be numbered in heaven among the holy martyrs. These speeches of Saint Codratus, addressed to the squad, filled the tormentor with rage: he immediately ordered Saint Cyprian, naked and hanged like Codratus, to be beaten, planed and burned with fire. After them, he subjected Dionysius, Anekt, Paul, and finally Criscent to the same torment. Having been disgraced and defeated by them, the tormentor condemned them first to be torn to pieces by wild beasts. When the animals did not touch the holy martyrs, he condemned them to be beheaded with a sword, initially ordering them to be dragged around the city by their feet. When this happened, a countless crowd of people, especially children, beat the saints with sticks and stones until they were dragged out of the city to the place intended for execution. Here the saints, having asked for a little time for themselves, prayed with zeal to the Lord, then bowed their honest heads to the sword and were beheaded on the tenth day of the month of March. In the place where the earth was stained with the honest blood of the holy martyrs, a clean source of water appeared to remind Corinth of the suffering of the saints. After the murder of the six martyrs Codratus, Cyprian, Dionysius, Anectos, Paul and Crescentus, other captured Christians were tortured and killed in various ways. Another Dionysius was stabbed to death with a knife, and Victorinus, Victor and Nicephorus (after Tertius became the successor of Hegemon Jason) were placed in a stone mortar and crushed in it. Claudius died after cutting off his hands and feet; Diodorus himself threw himself into the fire prepared for him, and in it, as in a bright chamber, he rested in peace. Serapion's head was cut off, Papias was thrown into the sea. Also, Leonidas, having suffered terrible and numerous torments from the hegemon Venustus, who replaced Tertius, was drowned in the sea. Holy women also decided to suffer for Christ, imitating Saint Codratus and keeping his instructions in their hearts - Charissa, Nunekhia, Vasilissa, Nika, Gali, Galina, Theodora and many other women, as well as men. Some of them moved to the Lord, having been beheaded by the sword, others having been drowned in waters or killed by other torments. All of them, together with their leader and teacher, Saint Codratus, are counted as martyrs, having received crowns of victory from the right hand of Christ God, to Whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. Corinth is the main city of Achaia, enlightened by the Apostle Paul. Emperor Decius ruled the Roman Empire from 249–251. He was one of the most severe persecutors of Christians. You might be interested in: