Страдание святого священномученика Пиония, пресвитера Смирнского, и прочих с ним

The Apostle orders us to honor the memory of the saints: “Remember,” he says, “your teachers, who preached the word of God to you” (Heb. 13:7); this is so that, remembering their faith, life and virtuous death, we strive to imitate them. Likewise, we should honor the memory of the holy martyr Pionius, because when he was in the world, he turned many to God from the deception of demons; he was an apostolic man, and when, having received the crown of martyrdom, he was recalled to the Lord, he left us a model of virtues, so that to this day we would have a memory of his teaching. The beginning of his suffering feat happened like this. On the twenty-third day of the sixth month (that is, February - the sixth from September), on which the memory of the holy martyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna was celebrated, in the city of Smyrna 1843, where many Jews lived, Presbyter Pionius, Savina, a zealot of piety, Asklipiades, Macedonia and Linus, presbyter of the cathedral church, were captured by the wicked Hellenes: Then there was a persecution of Christians during the reign of Decius in 1844. Pionius learned earlier that day that they would be captured on the feast of St. Polycarp. Therefore, fasting with Savina and Asklipiades, he took three woven chains, placed them on himself, on Savina and on Asklipiades, and sat at home, waiting for them to come to take them. On the very day of remembrance of Saint Polycarp, when after prayer they tasted a little bread and water, Polemon, the organizer of sacrifices to idols, came along with the soldiers; he was looking for Christians to attract them to offer vile idol sacrifices, and said to Pionius: - Do you know the royal order? Do you know that you are commanded to make sacrifices to the gods? Pionius replied: – We know the commandments of our God, with which He commands us to worship Him alone. “Go to the meeting,” said Polemon, “there you will submit even against your will.” Savina and Asklipiades answered: – We submit to the Living God. And Polemon led them without coercion, and the people, seeing how they voluntarily carried the shackles, ran after them, crowding each other, as if some unprecedented miracle. When the saints came to the meeting with the city governors, a countless crowd of Hellenes, and even more Jews, occupied all the places in the entrances and upper rooms. Having placed the saints in the middle, Polemon said: - Peony! Submit to the royal command, as others have submitted, and make sacrifices to the gods, so as not to be cruelly tormented. Pionius stretched out his hand and with a bright face began to speak to the people: - Residents of Smyrna, you who boast of the beauty of the city and the fact that Homer lived here in 1845, and the Jews present here, listen to the few words that I will say to you. I hear you laugh and rejoice that some of us have come to you; you consider the sin that one sacrifices to idols not of one’s own free will, but under compulsion, to be a laugh and a toy. But you, Hellenes, need to listen to your teacher Homer, who says that it is not good to rejoice at the death of a person. To you, Jews, Moses commands: “If you see the donkey of your enemy fallen under his burden, do not leave him: unload him along with him” (Ex. 23:5). You also need to listen to the words of Solomon: “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls; and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles” (Prov. 24:17). And I, listening to my Teacher, prefer to die than to transgress His words, and I try with all my might not to deviate from His commandments, which I learned myself a long time ago, and then taught others. Why are you laughing at us, Jews? Even if we are your enemies, as you say, we are still people; you say that we offend you when we tell the truth; but tell me: who did we offend, who did we persecute, who were forced to bow to idols? Don’t you consider your sins equal to the sins of those who now, out of fear of people, transgress God’s commandment and bow to idols? But who forced you to serve Beelphegor 1846 or to eat the sacrifices of the dead 1847, or to laugh with the daughters of foreigners, or to sacrifice your sons and daughters to demons, or to murmur against God, or to slander Moses, or to plan to return to Egypt again? I'm not even talking about your other affairs; and you still say that no one can deceive you: have you not read your books: Exodus, Judges, Kings and others, in which you are convicted. You point out to us some of us who, not by force, but of our own free will, turned to idols, and because of these few you denounce and condemn all Christians. But, Jews, think about real life: it is like a threshing floor, where a large haystack stands on the ground - what? Tares or wheat? When the worker comes to winnow with a shovel, then the light tares are easily blown away by the wind, but the wheat remains on the ground. Look at a net thrown into the sea: is everything that gets into it and is pulled out good? No. So is real life. How do you want us to suffer: as guilty or as innocent? If - as guilty, then you also need to suffer when your very deeds convict you of unrighteousness; if - as the innocent, then to you, the unjust, what hope will there be for salvation if the righteous suffer: “and if the righteous are barely saved, then where will the wicked and sinful appear?” (1 Peter 4:18). The judgment of the world is approaching, and its signs are visible. I went through all the Jewish countries, crossed the Jordan River and saw the land, which until then bore the sign of God’s wrath for the sins of the people living on it and committing murders and many atrocities against travelers. I saw smoke coming from it, fields and fields scorched by fire, without any fruit, devoid of moisture. I saw both the Dead Sea (i.e., an asphalt lake that produces resin) and water that had lost its properties due to the wrath of God; she cannot give an animal something to drink, nor can she contain a human body, and whatever is thrown at her, she immediately throws it out. But why do I remember such distant places! You see the Decapolis in Lydia in 1848, burned by fire, and to this day it lies scorched as a punishment for the wicked... Remember the eruption of Mount Etna and the destruction of the island of Sicily in 1849. If this seems far from you, then think about the warm waters coming out of the earth: why do they heat up and be hot? Is it not from the fire prepared for sinners within the earth? From here we learn that there will be judgment for the world and execution by fire for sinners from God through His Word incarnate, our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore we do not serve the Hellenic gods and do not want to worship the golden idol. Saint Pionius spoke again, and Polemon, the mayors and all the people listened in deep silence. Then some citizens, together with Polemon, began to ask Pionius, saying: - Listen, Pionius, we love you for your kind disposition and meekness and we want you to stay alive: after all, it’s true, it’s good and sweet to live and see the sunshine! – And in my opinion this temporary life is pleasant, but incomparably more pleasant is the life that we Christians desire; This light is cheerful and pleasant, I admit it, but even more joyful and pleasant is the true light that we hope to see. All this, seen with bodily eyes, is beautiful; We neither condemn nor hate God’s creation; but there is something else, invisible, which is truly more beautiful and which we place above everything visible. One blasphemer, named Alexander, a cunning man, said: - Listen to me, Pionius! The saint answered him: “You better listen to me, because everything you know, I know, and you don’t know what I know.” Alexander, cursing at the saint, said to him: - Why are you wearing these bonds? “And then,” answered the saint, “so that you do not think that we are going to worship your idols, but so that you know for sure that we are going to prison and to death for our God.” For a long time Alexander tried to persuade Pionius with various temptations, but achieved nothing and finally said: – Why waste a lot of words when they don’t want to stay alive. The people wanted Pionius to be placed in a prominent place so that everyone could hear his words; but Polemon did not allow this, fearing that there would be unrest and different rumors among the people. He said to Pionius: “If you don’t want to make sacrifices to the gods, then at least enter their churches.” The saint answered: - What benefit will the idols have if I come to them? “Agree, Pionius,” repeated Polemon. “Oh, if I could,” objected Pionius, “to convince you all to become Christians!” They laughed and said: - No, please don’t make us burn alive in the fire. And the saint said to them: “It’s even worse to burn forever in an unquenchable fire after death.” Blessed Savina smiled, and Polemon and the others said to her: - Why are you laughing? She answered: – I rejoice that I am a Christian, because whoever is firm in the faith of Christ will rejoice forever. The wicked said to her: “You’ll laugh when you endure what you don’t want: women who don’t bow to the gods are taken to a house of debauchery.” “The holy, true God will take care of me.” After this, they began to write down the names of the saints and their answers, with which they confessed Christ and rejected idols; when they wanted to write down the name of Savina, Saint Pionius quietly told her not to say her real name, but to call herself Theodotius; He did this so that her act would not be known to her mistress. The fact is that Saint Savina was the slave of a famous Greek woman, who several years before, during the reign of Gordian 1850, not being able to turn her slave, Blessed Savina, away from Christ, drove her bound into the desert mountains, where she was secretly fed by believers; Then, through the many efforts of Saint Pionius, she was delivered from shackles and from slavery to her mistress. Saint Pionius was afraid that her mistress would somehow recognize her by name and want to take her to her place again; That’s why he ordered Saint Savina to be called Theodotia. When Polemon asked her name, she answered: -Are you a Christian? - asked Polemon. Her answers were recorded in the same way as those of Pionius and Asklipiades. Polemon also asked: -What god do you worship? The saint answered: – God Almighty, who created heaven and earth and us all; known to us through His Word, incarnate from the Most Pure and Unparalleled Virgin Mary, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having written down the names of the saints, they led them into prison, and all the people followed them. Some spoke about Saint Pionius: - Look: he was always pale, but how rosy he is now! “They need to torture these people if they don’t want to make sacrifices to the gods.” - Torment whoever hinders you! We are not guarded by squires, warriors do not protect us, we are in your hands: torture us! Someone pointed to Saint Asclepiades and said: “This one wants to make a sacrifice to the gods.” “You’re lying,” answered Saint Pionius, “not one of us will do this.” Others remembered those who had fallen away from Christ and, calling them by name, said: “So-and-so made a sacrifice, but don’t you want to?” - Everyone has their own will; What do I care about others? I am Pionius. The people were indignant at Saint Pionius and his comrades; As soon as they reached the prison, the people almost beat them. Entering the prison, they found there Linus, a presbyter of the cathedral church, imprisoned for Christ, and a woman from the village of Karina, named Macedonia; Many believers came to them and brought what they needed, but they did not want to take it and distributed it to the prison guards. Some of the Hellenes visited the saints and tried to convert them to their wickedness, but, hearing firm answers from them, they left in surprise. Those who had previously been Christians also came to Christ’s prisoners, but against their will they were forced to fall away from piety: the fear of torment persuaded them to offer sacrifices to idols; they wept bitterly for hours and days in prison before the saints; Saint Pionius also wept bitterly for them, especially for those who were distinguished by a good and honest life, but, fearing torment, made sacrifices to the idols; he cried and said: – I am tormented in my heart with new torment, my soul is torn to pieces when I see how pigs trample the church beads of 1851, how the heavenly stars are torn off by a snake’s tail to the ground (Rev. 12:4), and how grapes planted by the right hand of God are devoured by a wild boar and stolen by passers-by. My children, I feel sorry for you until Christ dwells in you again; my dear pets, fed on heavenly bread, why have you turned to a sinful path? now the lawless elders have defamed the chaste Susanna, i.e. Church of Christ; Now Haman is triumphant, but Esther and all her tribe are confused; now there is a famine, not for lack of bread or water, but for the word of God; Now all the virgins of the gospel have dozed off and are sleeping. The word of the Lord has been fulfilled: if the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth (Luke 18:8)? And His other word: brother betrays brother to death (Luke 21:16); I hear how now everyone betrays his neighbor. Truly Satan asked us to sift like wheat, but let the fiery shovel in the hands of the word of God winnow his threshing floor; The salt has lost its strength, and is swept away, and people trample on it. But let no one think, children, that the Lord fainted: not the Lord, but we fainted, because, He says, did My hand fail to deliver you? Or is My hearing too heavy to hear you? But your sins have separated you from your God. We have sinned, brothers, we have transgressed the commandments of the Lord and committed lawlessness, angered God and saddened our neighbor; we reproached each other, lied and slandered each other, and devoured ourselves, but it was necessary that our truth be higher than the truth of the Pharisees and scribes. I also hear that the Jews are inviting some of you to their meetings; Beware lest you fall into even worse snares and fall into the unforgivable sin, i.e. blaspheme against the Holy Spirit - do not be with the Jews the princes of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah, whose hands are stained with blood. We did not kill the prophet, nor did we betray or crucify Christ. What can I say too much! Remember what you have heard from me many times before; You know well that the Jews say that Christ was a simple man and, as a mortal, was killed to death. But let them tell us: if He was a simple mortal man, then how was the whole world filled with a multitude of His disciples; and how many suffer cruelly for His name's sake; how, in the name of a simple and mortal man, so many years after Him, demons were cast out and are now being cast out and will continue to be cast out until the end of time? And many other miracles in the church of believers are done in His Almighty name. The damned Jews do not understand that Christ, our Lord, suffered according to His will, died for us, and rose again in glory on the third day. But the lawless say that Christ was a sorcerer and rose from the dead by the power of magic; so let them show you what scripture of theirs or ours says this about Christ, or what righteous man has ever said this? Is it not known that this is a lie, and those who tell such lies are the worst of lawless people? And why are such people believed more than the righteous? Even as a child I heard these false words of theirs. It is written in Scripture how Saul came to the sorceress and asked to call the prophet Samuel from the dead; the woman cast a spell, and Saul saw an old man coming out of the ground, dressed in a long robe, and he realized that it was Samuel, and asked him what he wanted. Well, could this sorceress really resurrect Samuel or not? If the Jews say that she could, they will admit that untruth is stronger than truth and magic is stronger than holiness, because the holy prophet could not disobey the sorceress; those who speak so are vile and cursed. If they say that that sorceress could not actually resurrect the prophet Samuel with her magic, then they cannot say about Christ our Lord that He rose from the grave by magical power. This story of the Holy Scriptures is explained as follows. How could the devil, living in a sorceress, bring into this world the soul of the holy prophet, resting in Abraham’s bosom? After all, the lesser has no power over the greater, and the devil cannot command the saint, but the Angels who have fallen away from God obey those who have left God, serve them and call them with magic; and what the wizards ask of them, the devils do: the sorceress asked the devil who obeyed her, and he took on the guise of a prophet. And this is not surprising if Satan himself, according to the word of the Apostle (2 Cor. 11:14), is transformed into a bright Angel; therefore, his servants can take on the appearance of servants of God, and so the Antichrist will take on the image of Christ. Therefore, the sorceress did not resurrect Samuel, but showed Saul, who had fallen away from God, the devil in the form of Samuel; Scripture itself testifies to this; Thus, the one who appeared in the image of Samuel said to Saul: “Tomorrow you too will be with me.” How can Saul, the enemy of God, be together with the holy prophet Samuel? Isn't it better for him to be with the devil, to whom he submitted, having fallen away from God? Let the lying Jews know that it is impossible to actually resurrect from the dead by any magic; and just as she did not resurrect Samuel by sorcery, so Christ was not resurrected by sorcery, but by His Divine power destroyed the power of death, and just as by His will He suffered and died, so by His will He rose again, autocratically, like God. If they don’t believe this either, then tell them: even if we sacrificed to idols, we are still much better than you: you sacrificed to the demons of your own free will, and we were forced to do so by force. And Saint Pionius exhorted the apostates, saying: “Do not despair, brothers, although you have committed a grave sin, sacrificed to idols, but repent truly and turn again with all your heart to Christ, your God: He is merciful and ready to accept everyone who comes to Him in repentance, and will accept you with joy as His children.” And with great weeping they repented of their sin and turned again to Christ God. After this, Polemon, the organizer of idolatry, and Theophilus, the magistrate of 1852, came to the prison with the army and people; They brought out the saints and said: - Here your bishop Euktimon bowed to our gods and made a sacrifice to them; obey and do the same as he did; if you do not do this, then you will be judged by the priest Lepidon and Euctimon in the church of the gods. - If Bishop Euktimon sacrificed to idols, then it’s his will that it matters to us! We will not make sacrifices. We need to be judged by the antipatos 1853, and not by Lepidon, and not by Euctimon, and not by you; How is it that you, without waiting for the arrival of the antipath, take over his power? Those who came, pouring out their annoyance on the saints, left. Then they returned again with an army and a crowd of people and falsely announced: - Antipat sent an order to take you to trial in Ephesus 1854. Pionius replied: “Let the messenger come, take us and lead us.” Theophilus then said: - Why don’t you believe me? I am a prince and you can trust me. And, throwing a rope around the neck of Saint Pionius, he ordered the soldiers to lead everyone to the idol church; They took everyone and led them by force, since the saints did not want to go to the idols and shouted loudly: – We are Christians, why should we go to idols? But the soldiers dragged the saints with force, and they almost strangled Pionius, dragging him by the neck on a rope. When they were brought to the middle of the square and they were near the church, Saint Pionius fell to the ground, saying that he was a Christian and did not want to enter the shrine. Then six servants, attacking him, began to beat him with their hands and feet and knees, hitting him on the ribs; but he did not listen to them; then they took him in their arms, carried him and threw him into the shrine in front of the nasty altar, where the accursed bishop Euctimon still stood, making a sacrifice to idols. After this Lepido said: - Why don’t you, Pionius, want to make a sacrifice to the gods? - Because we are Christians. -What god do you worship? – Lepidon asked. “The One,” answered Pionius, “who created heaven and earth, the sea and everything that is in them.” Lepidon asked: -Who was crucified? The saint answered: – He was crucified, whom God the Father sent to save the world. The princes laughed loudly, and Lepidon began to scold and reproach blessed Pionius. Then they forcibly put on the holy martyrs the crowns in which the wicked usually performed sacrifices, and forced them to eat the sacrificial meat. They broke the crowns, threw them to the ground, trampled them under their feet and spat on the sacrifices. The wicked idolaters raised a cry and took the saints back to prison with abuse and beatings. When Saint Pionius entered the door of the prison, one soldier hit him hard on the head with something and wounded him. And immediately the one who struck felt pain in his hands, was completely overcome by illness, his body was covered with scabs and swollen, so that he could hardly breathe. Then the antipat Quintilian arrived in Smyrna and, sitting in court, called one Saint Pionius for interrogation. Having interrogated him and seeing that he did not submit, he ordered him to be hanged naked and his body to be whittled with iron hooks. They tortured the saint like this and said: - Why are you in a hurry to death? The saint answered: “I am hastening not to death, but to eternal life.” After this torment, the saint was condemned to death, and, according to Roman custom, the following death sentence was read to him: “We ordered Pionius, who himself admitted to being a Christian, to be crucified and burned alive. Brought to the place of crucifixion and burning, he himself undressed and, looking at his body, was very happy about his bodily purity, then he looked up at the sky and thanked God for preserving him so until the end in immaculate purity. On the ground lay a tree, like a cross, on which he was to be crucified; he himself lay down on this tree, prostrated himself and allowed the soldiers to pin him down. When he was already nailed down, they told him: - Listen, Pionius, obey the royal order: we will take out the nails, the doctors will cure you, and you will be healthy. The saint, after a pause, said: “I want to fall asleep so that I can rise better on the general resurrection.” Having nailed Peony, they lifted the tree, stood it straight, dug the lower end firmly into the ground, surrounded it with firewood and lit it. A strong flame engulfed the saint on all sides, and he, closing his eyes, prayed to God to himself and did not burn. Everyone, seeing him with his eyes closed, thought that he had already died. And he, after quite some time, when the flames began to subside little by little, having completed his prayer in the secret of his heart, opened his eyes. The people were very surprised that he was still alive in such a fire. Then, with a cheerful look, he said “Amen” in his prayer, adding: “Lord, receive my spirit,” and died. The fire died out, but his body turned out to be completely intact, and even the hair on his head was not burned. His face was bright, shining with Divine grace: this was a sign of the joy of his holy soul, which had entered into heavenly joy and received the crown from the right hand of Christ. This was during the reign of Decius 1855, in the city of Smyrna, under Antipatos Quintilian, on the fifth day of the Ides of March according to the Roman calendar, and according to the eastern calendar in the seventh month (i.e. in March, the seventh month from September), on the eleventh day, on Saturday, at the tenth hour of the day. This is what Metaphrastus writes about Saint Peony in 1856. About the other holy martyrs, who were taken and kept in prison together with Saint Pionius, it is not written in what torment they ended their feat; however, it is certain that they suffered for Christ and achieved heavenly life with Saint Pionius. This holy presbyter Pionius wrote the life and suffering of the holy hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, and afterward, together with him, he himself was vouchsafed the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, reigning with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. Decius, Roman emperor, reigned from 249 to 251. Homer is a Greek poet who, according to legend, wrote the poems: the Iliad and the Odyssey; It is unknown where he was born, and many cities, including Smyrna, took credit for the honor of being his homeland. Beelphegor or Baalphegor is a Syrophoenician (Moabite) deity, whose service was distinguished by immorality. Here, of course, is sorcery and sorcery with the help of human corpses. Lydia is a province in Asia Minor. Sicily, one of the large islands of the Mediterranean Sea, is now part of the Kingdom of Italy. Gordian - Roman emperor, reigned in 238 (only 36 days). Those. teachings of Christ (Matthew 7:6) A magistrate was an important government official among the Romans, who concentrated military and legal power in his hands. Antipat, or proconsul, ruler of the region. Ephesus is a city in Asia Minor located on the shores of the Aegean Sea. In ancient times it was famous for its wealth and trade. Decius, the Roman emperor, reigned from 249 to 251. The martyrdom of Saint Pionius followed in 250. Symeon Metaphrastus is a remarkable Byzantine public figure and church writer of the 11th century. Of his works, the Lives of the Saints are especially remarkable. Simeon, when compiling this work, did not limit himself to just a collection of ancient legends, but retold them and translated them into colloquial language. Hence his nickname Metaphrast (from metaprxxein - to retell). You might be interested in: