Страдание святого мученика Терентия и прочих с ним

The wicked Roman king Decius 2496, wanting to convert everyone to his destructive idolatrous faith, sent a decree to all regions of his kingdom - to force all Christians to idolatry and eat food sacrificed to idols, and to subject the disobedient to trial and execution. When this decree was received by the ruler of Africa, Fortunatian, he sat down in the judge’s seat and summoned all the people to him, and announced: – Make a sacrifice to the gods, otherwise you will be severely tortured and die an evil death. At these words, the ruler showed the instrument of torture, and many, at the sight of them, were afraid and renounced the faith of Christ. Some of the faithful, forty in number, firmly decided to die for Christ and boldly said to each other: - Let us be strong, brethren, and not deny Christ our God, lest He also deny us before His heavenly Father and His holy Angels. Let us remember what the Lord said: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but fear Him more who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (Matthew 10:28). When the servants of Christ encouraged each other with these words, Fortunatian said to them: “I am surprised how you, people of mature age and intelligence, have reached such madness that you recognize as one God and king the One whom the Jews crucified as a villain.” Saint Terenty answered him for everyone: – If you, ruler, had abandoned the delusion of idols, had known the power of Christ crucified, you would have worshiped and served Him; for He is the Son of God, gracious, merciful and merciful; by the good pleasure of God, His Father, He descended to earth, united His Divinity with humanity and voluntarily endured the Cross for our salvation. - Make a sacrifice to the gods, otherwise I will burn your body and destroy you. “Do you think you can frighten us with fear?” - answered Saint Terenty. - No, we are not so weak as to leave immortal life and its Giver and worship idols. Do quickly what you want to do, invent torture for us, for we, the servants of Christ, are firm and constant. Then the ruler angrily ordered them to be undressed and taken to the idol church. The idols were decorated with gold and silver and expensive clothes. Entering the church, the ruler said to the saints: – Make a sacrifice to the mighty god Hercules, for his strength is great and his greatness is glorious. “You are mistaken,” said Saint Terenty, “your gods are stone and wood, copper and iron, and adorned with gold to deceive people and lead them away from eternal life; for they do not see, do not speak, do not hear and do not walk, because they are molded and fashioned by human hands: “Let those who make them and all who trust in them be like them” (Ps. 113:16). Hearing these words, the governor ordered Terentius, Africanus, Maximus and Pompey to be imprisoned in the inner sections of the prison and closely guarded, saying: “Tomorrow I’ll take them out for a test.” He ordered Blessed Zenon, Alexander, Theodore and others, thirty-six in total, to be brought to the court near the idol church and said to them: “No success or benefit came from your first argument, so now listen to me and make sacrifices to the great god Hercules.” – We have said many times that we are Christians; This you knew from the first questions, and you can never convince us to worship unclean idols. “If you do not want to obey my admonitions voluntarily, then I will force you to carry out the command of the invincible kings by force,” and he ordered them to be mercilessly beaten with knotty brushwood and dry sinews. The holy martyrs, raising their hands to heaven, unanimously cried out: “Look upon us, O Lord our God, help Thy servants and deliver us from what is contrary.” Hearing this, the ruler ordered to beat them harder, so that the servants changed many times and there was not enough brushwood and veins. Then the governor ordered them to be beaten with sticks, and although the very insides of the martyrs were already exposed, their faces were so bright and cheerful that everyone marveled at the invincible patience and courage of the saints. After the scourging, the ruler said to them: - Make a sacrifice to the gods, then I will let you go. The saints were silent, and he, in anger, ordered iron rods to be heated and their shoulders to be burned, and their wounds to be poured with vinegar mixed with salt and rubbed with cloth rags. Then the holy martyrs of Christ, looking up to heaven, said: - Lord our God, who saved three youths from the fiery furnace: Ananias, Azariah and Mishael, and delivered Daniel from the mouth of the lions, saved Moses from the hands of Pharaoh and protected Saint Thekla from fire and beasts, gave His beloved perfect triumph over their enemies, raised from the dead the Shepherd of the sheep, our great Lord Jesus Christ (see: Heb. 13:20), who revealed many and varied blessings to us, who created the light and stretched out the sky like a skin, who counted the number of stars, who called them all by their names (see: Ps. 146:4), who spread the true teaching of faith to the ends of the earth - hear us praying to You and deliver us from our troubles, for Yours is the glory forever. Amen. They had not yet finished their prayer when the ruler, filled with rage, again ordered them to be hanged and whittled with iron claws, and blood flowed from their ribs in streams; but, despite the ferocity of the torment, they did not weaken in the least, for God affirmed them and gave them strength and strength. And the ruler said to them: – Have the torments brought you to your senses and are you ready to retreat from your madness? Or will you still continue in your wickedness? The saints did not answer, but the ruler said with rage: - I tell you, wicked ones! Then the saints, looking up to heaven, said: - Omnipotent God, who once rained fire on the city of Sodom for its iniquity, now also destroy this wicked church of evil gods for the sake of Your truth. At these words, they made the sign of the cross on their foreheads and blew towards the church, and immediately the idols fell in it with a great roar and crumbled into dust. Then the holy martyrs said to the ruler: - You see what your gods are like; where is their strength and strength now? Could they protect themselves? Soon the church also fell and was destroyed to the ground. Then the ruler, in terrible anger for the destruction of the church and idols, ordered the holy martyrs to cut off their heads. They rejoiced at this verdict, glorified God and joyfully went to the place of execution, and here, bending their knees, they willingly put their necks under the sword for the sake of Christ, and died by the sword. The believers took their holy bodies and buried them in a holy place. After the murder of these holy martyrs, the governor ordered Saints Terentius, Africanus, Maximus and Pompey to be brought to him and said to them: - Make a sacrifice to the gods, otherwise you will die an evil death, and no one can deliver you from my hands. – We are Christians, and we have placed our hope in Christ; We will not worship demons and serve your gods, and we will not be afraid of your torment. Give us whatever torment you want; we believe in our God that you will be defeated by us, just as the devil is defeated by Christ, who will give us the strength to defeat your evil intention. The governor ordered the holy martyrs to be taken back to prison, to place heavy iron blocks on their necks and to shackle their hands and feet in iron chains, and in this form to place them on iron tridents placed on the floor, and not to let anyone into the prison, lest anyone bring them food. When the saints were in such torment and prayed to God, at midnight a light shone in the prison, and the Angel of the Lord appeared to them and said: - Terentius, Africanus, Maximus and Pompey, servants of the Most High God, arise and strengthen your bodies. Having said this, the Angel touched their chains, and they immediately fell off them, and a table full of all kinds of dishes appeared before them. – Rest and eat the food that Christ sent you. The saints, blessing Christ God, refreshed themselves with food and drink and gave thanks to their Master. The guards, seeing the light in the prison, went inside and saw the holy martyrs rejoicing and having fun and reported this to the ruler. The governor, having brought the martyrs to trial in the morning, said to them: -Have not torment brought you to your senses and are you not ready to retreat from your madness? Come to the gods and worship them. - God save us from this madness - us and all who love God: for “the foolish things of God are wiser than men” (1 Cor. 1:25), and human wisdom is foolishness before God. We would be crazy if, leaving God, we worshiped demons, as you do. The ruler, angry at these words, ordered them to be hanged on the gallows and whittled with iron claws. While suffering such torture, the saints prayed to God and said: - Jesus Christ, Son of God who lives forever, light of Christians, our strong hope, be with us and help us and do not disgrace us who suffer for the sake of Your Holy Name. Praying like this, they did not feel pain, for Christ eased their pain. Then the ruler ordered them to be thrown into prison again and, calling upon the wise men and sorcerers who knew how to charm animals and reptiles, he ordered them, through spells, to gather the most fierce animals - asps, vipers and snakes - and imprison them together with the martyrs in prison. But the reptiles, crawling at the feet of the holy martyrs, did not touch them and did not harm them; the saints sang and glorified God. So they spent three days and three nights in prison with the reptiles, and on the fourth day at night the governor sent to find out whether the martyrs had been killed by the reptiles. Those sent, approaching the prison doors, heard that the holy prisoners were singing and praising God. Wanting to find out more precisely what was happening in the prison, they went up to the roof and, opening it, saw that the saints were sitting, and the Angel of God did not allow reptiles to approach the martyrs. Seeing this, they were horrified and immediately reported what they had seen to the ruler. Early in the morning, the ruler ordered the exorcists to remove snakes, asps, vipers and all their reptiles from the prison, and to bring the martyrs to trial. When the spellcasters came to the dungeon and began to say their usual spells, the reptiles did not listen to them, but with great fury they all rushed out of the open doors at their spellcasters and struck them to death, as well as all the people who were there. After this, the saints were brought to the court, and the ruler, seeing them unharmed, became furious and sentenced them to beheading with the sword. Then the passion-bearers were filled with inexpressible joy and, going joyfully to death, sang: “You delivered us, Lord, from those who oppressed us, and you put to shame those who hated us.” The servants, having brought them to the place of execution, did what they were ordered, and Christ’s confessors received the crown of martyrdom. Reverent men removed their holy bodies and buried them with honor two miles from the city to the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. The martyr's honorable memory has come today, with all kinds of joy, of Terenty the Wise and his squad. Let us therefore be warm, so that we may receive healing: for this is grace from God, having received the Holy Spirit to heal the ailments of our souls. On the same day, the memory of the holy martyrs James the presbyter, Azadan and Avdikia the deacon, in Persia, suffered at Sapor around 380. Emperor Decius is a famous persecutor of Christians; reigned from 249–261 You might be interested in: