Страдание святого мученика Христофора

About this glorious martyr 3052 they tell something strange and unusual, as if he had the head of a dog and came from the country of cannibals 3053. When one committee 3054 took him prisoner in the war, he did not have the gift of human speech. He prayed to God, and the Lord sent an Angel to him, who told him: “Take courage, Reprev!” - that was his first name - and then he touched his lips and through this gave him the ability to speak. When after this he arrived in one city, he began to denounce those who were persecuting Christians. For this, a certain Bacchus beat him, but in response to this he told Bacchus that he accepted beatings from him with humility only for the sake of the commandment of Christ, and if he had succumbed to anger, neither Bacchus himself would have been able to resist, nor even the power of the emperor, which he would have turned into nothing. Soon two hundred soldiers were sent after him to bring him to the emperor 3055, and as they walked, on the way, a completely dry rod, which was in the hands of the saint, miraculously blossomed, and then when during the journey the soldiers did not have enough bread, he multiplied it in abundance. This great miracle surprised the soldiers, and they believed in Christ and, together with the saint, were baptized by the bishop of Antioch, the holy martyr Babyla, and the saint was given the name Christopher instead of Reprev. When the saint was brought to the emperor, the latter felt horror at the sight of him and suddenly fell on his back, and then, having come to his senses again, he decided to force him to renounce Christ, but not by obvious measures of violence, but by cunning, first to change his mood, and then with affection to persuade him to fulfill his will. For this purpose, he ordered to call two women - harlots, beautiful in face and ready to give themselves to fornication, who with seductive conversations aroused in young people an irresistible, insane desire for fornication. The name of one of these women was Kallinikia, and the other was Aquilina. The emperor ordered them to enter the saint and instill in him various seductive thoughts, as was their custom, so that, prompted by criminal love for them, he agreed to renounce faith in Christ and make a sacrifice to the pagan gods, but Saint Christopher began to teach them faith in Christ and with his word turned them away from idolatry. Returning to the emperor, they declared themselves Christians, for which they were subjected to severe torture and, having thus suffered for their faith in Christ, received the crowns of martyrdom. Very angry with these women, the emperor ordered Saint Christopher to be brought to him and began to mock him about the unusual appearance of his face, but the saint in response to this called him a receptacle for the actions of the devil, for this was the meaning of the name of the emperor Decius. After this, the emperor sentenced to death those two hundred soldiers who were sent to bring Saint Christopher to him and who received holy baptism with him, since they came to the saint and bowed to him in front of the emperor's eyes. He ordered all of them to cut off their heads and burn their bodies, but he ordered Saint Christopher to be imprisoned in a copper vessel, nailed into it, and then the vessel to be heated, but when this was done, the saint remained unharmed. Without experiencing any suffering either from the fire or from being nailed, he stood in a red-hot vessel, as if in some pleasant coolness. To many of those present, this seemed like a deception, but to the believers, the saint completely truthfully and joyfully told that during the torture he saw some very tall and beautiful-looking man, dressed in white robes, whose light emanating from him surpassed the sun and had a brilliant crown on his head, that he was surrounded by many warriors, with whom some black and stinking araps were fighting, trying to grab and carry him away, but this the terrible leader looked at them with anger and with his gaze confused and defeated all this enemy army, and gave him the strength to endure the torment without harm. Hearing such a story and seeing the saint completely unharmed, many of the people believed him and turned to Christ, and then took the saint out of the red-hot vessel, for which they were hacked to pieces by the royal executioners. After this, they tied a stone around Saint Christopher’s neck and threw it into a well, but an Angel pulled him out from there, then they put red-hot copper clothing on him and, finally, cut off his head with a sword 3056. The memory of Saint Christopher and other holy martyrs who suffered with him is celebrated in Cyparissia 3057 on the day of his death, close to the day of the death of the Holy Great Martyr George. Decorate yourself with clothes from the blood, stand before the Lord, the King of hosts, Christopher of ever-memorable: from there, with the incorporeal and the martyrs, eat the trisagion and terrible sweet singing: with the same prayers save your flock. The memory of Saint Christopher is highly revered both in the east and even more so in the west, especially in Spain. In the West they resort to it during contagious diseases. Some claim that Saint Christopher was a Canaanite by origin, while others derive him from the Canineans (canis - dog) or Cynocephali anthropophagoi. The canine appearance of the saint in the Slavic Prologue is rejected, and Nicodemus in the Synaxarist gives him only an ugly appearance. The king's bodyguards were called comites, and later this title began to be applied in general to persons who made up the retinue of proconsuls, regional governors, etc. According to the Greek prologues, Assemani believes that this was Emperor Decius, who reigned in the Roman Empire from 249 to 251. The holy martyr died in Lycia under the emperor Decius c. 250. According to the acts of the martyr, the day of his death is assigned by all the most ancient calendars, eastern and western, to April 23. Kyparissium or Kyparissos is a locality in Constantinople. You might be interested in: