Страдание святой мученицы Акилины

In the Palestinian city of Vivlos 3875, where Christians have been appearing since the time of the holy Apostles, lived the Christian Eutolmios, whose honest marriage the Lord blessed with the birth of a young woman; named Aquilina. Four months after the baby was born, the mother brought her to Bishop Euphaly, who announced the baby, signing him with the sign of the cross; then, after two months, he baptized the young woman. In the second year, Aquilina lost her father, who had gone to the heavenly villages, and remained in the care of her mother; the latter raised her daughter, instilling in her the rules of a pious, Christian life; At the age of seven, the girl had already fully mastered these instructions. As she grew older, Aquilina became more and more filled with the Holy Spirit, adorned with the grace of Christ, and she was so imbued with it that in the small and still imperfect years of her youth, she courageously defeated, as an insignificant thing, the decrees of the wicked kings about the obligatory idolatry for all. This is what we now have to talk about. When Aquilina, who constantly invoked God in her prayers, was ten years old, it was the seventh year of the reign of Diocletian 3876, at that time a certain Volusian, more the offspring of the devil than of man, took over the leadership of the Palestinian country. Not recognizing the true God, the Creator of all that exists, Volusian with insatiable malice began to persecute the pious followers of Christ the Savior, and many valiant warriors of Christ, who courageously endured suffering, were awarded unfading crowns. During these days, the blessed youth Aquilina, filled with the knowledge of God, often addressed her peers with the following admonition: – What benefit does the veneration of dumb and insensitive idols bring you? Do you not know that those who worship them with faith flatter themselves with an idle, destructive, devilish hope? Are these gods dead and powerless, can they provide benefits? -What kind of God do you worship? – Aquilina’s peers asked. – I worship and honor the One God worthy of worship, who created heaven, earth, sea and everything that fills them. From the beginning He does good to all who believe in Him and hope in Him and, like the Almighty, He will pour out His benefits on those who call on Him until the end of the world. “We heard,” Aquilina’s interlocutors objected, “that God, about whom you preach, died on the cross, crucified by the Jews.” “Death over Him,” the saint said to this, “has no power: He not only revived Himself, but also revived the dead, redeeming them with His honest Blood.” Seeing that man had turned away from the true path, He deigned to be incarnate, to become a man, so that, having destroyed the charm of the devil and giving us grace with truth, He would usher in and place the fallen human race on the path of salvation. - But who is the One about whom they say that He was crucified? – Aquilina’s peers continued to question her. “The Savior of all, who loved the human race,” she answered. – He voluntarily endured suffering in order to make a new man out of the old man through water and the Spirit 3877; He ascended the Cross, wanting to save not only those living on earth, but also to free those held in hell from mortal bonds; By His three-day resurrection He announced as an immutable truth that at His second coming there would be a rising from the dead for everyone. “But if,” those who asked Aquilina were perplexed, “the One about whom you speak has shown such great benefits to the world, then why do the Jews, His fellow tribesmen, not honor Him as God?” “This people,” explained the holy youth, “always deviates from the right path; having a soul rebellious in its bitterness and blinded by malice, he usually rejects what is true and righteous; That is why the Jews rejected the One who had done good to them, handing him over to Pilate to be condemned to death on the cross. One of the slaves of the head of the region, named Nicodemus, often heard similar conversations between blessed Aquilina and her contemporaries, who finally informed his master that there was a young woman living in the city who called demons the insignificant gods, in her opinion, and did not obey the decrees of the kings about honoring the latter, and by preaching about some crucified God, she turned some away from the religion of their fathers. Hearing this, the head of the region sent servants to seize the young woman. The holy martyr Aquilina was taken to suffer in the second year of the reign of the Volusian region and in her twelfth year from birth. When she was brought to the wicked trial, Volusian, looking at her, asked: – Are you not the one who opposes the royal decrees, seducing others not to honor our gods, but to worship the Crucified Man? Do you not know the commandment of kings to subject those who profess the name of Jesus to all kinds of torments, ending with death? Therefore, renounce the Crucified One and offer the immortal gods honor and sacrifices worthy of them, so that we will not be forced to betray you to torture. “If you, anfipat 3878,” answered Saint Aquilina, “condemn me to bitter torment, then through this you will give me an imperishable crown, which I hope to receive from my Savior, since I confess His name, which I will never, even in the most severe torment, renounce.” And so do not hesitate - invent for me whatever kind of torment you want and you will be convinced by your very deed that I, armed with faith, am not afraid of your torment. Then Volusian began to gently exhort the holy damsel: “Seeing your early youth and beauty, I feel sorry for you, because if I give you over to torture, your fragile members will immediately shatter; cruel speculators, after fierce torment, will betray you to a bitter death, and you will lose your life in your youth, and the Christian God you confess will not help you. “I do not ask you for pity,” Saint Aquilina objected to Volusian, “you, thinking of showing me mercy, harm me even more by trying to tear me away from the true God.” I pray you, do not be sorry, but treat me with the most merciless cruelty, and then from my patience you will learn that those who hope in Christ are not defeated. Anfipat, convinced that no admonitions could force the servant of Christ to refuse to confess Jesus, ordered to beat her in the face with the words: “This is the beginning of torment—is it sweet and pleasant to you?” - Inhuman torturer! - exclaimed Aquilina, - since you dared to hit in the face the one created in the image of God, then know that He Whose image I bear will not forgive you for this on the day of His judgment. “I believe,” said the judge, “that our great gods, who now hold in their hands the salvation of the whole world, will also have in their power the salvation of all in that coming age.” After these words, he ordered the young woman to be stripped and, stretched out, beaten by two soldiers, adding the following speeches to the torture: “Where is your God now, Aquilina, about whom you said that He would not forgive me at His trial?” May He come here and deliver you from my hands. Then Volusian ordered the strikers to stop and said to Saint Aquilina: - Listen to me, who wishes you well: leave your madness and, if you want to get rid of torment, renounce the Christian heresy: did at least one of those who hoped in Him who Himself did not provide Himself with deliverance when He was crucified came out of my hands freed? Which of those who worship Jesus did our kings leave to live on earth? “Do you really think, merciless executioner,” answered Saint Aquilina, “that I feel the torment inflicted on me?” Know that my God will give me strength and patience incomparably greater than those tricks that you seek against me at the suggestion of your father the devil. Volusian, perplexed by such courage of the blessed young woman, said to her: “I will leave you a few days to think, so that you, with common sense, worship the gods and thereby save your life, while at the same time receiving a worthy reward from the kings.” - How many days are you leaving me weak? – asked Saint Aquilina. “As much as you want,” Volusian answered. “So I ask you,” said the martyr, “not to leave me even an hour for this kind of reflection: from an early age I was taught to worship only the One God, flowing to the One who, living in heaven, looks with a merciful eye on His earthly children.” Seeing the young woman’s firm love for God, Volusian said to himself: my admonitions and labors are in vain! And in irritation, he ordered red-hot iron rods to drill through the saint’s head through the ears. When the red-hot rods passed through the girl’s brain, the latter flowed out of her nostrils along with the blood. But even in such great suffering, the martyr prayed to God: “My Lord, Jesus Christ! Since the days of my childhood, You who have guided me, who have illuminated the secret thoughts of my heart with the rays of Your truth and have strengthened me in the battle against the devil with Your mighty and invincible power, You who have revealed to the believers the abysses of true and great wisdom, bring my feat to the end and keep the unquenchable lamp of my virginity, so that I, together with the wise virgins, can enter Your pure chamber and there be worthy to send Glory to Thee, the Finisher of my desires." After this prayer, Saint Aquilina fell to the ground as if dead from unbearable suffering. Anfipat, thinking that she really died, ordered her to be thrown outside the city to be devoured by dogs; he did not consider the martyr worthy of ordinary burial, as a violator of royal commands and a blasphemer of the Roman gods. And Saint Aquilina lay prostrate along the road all day. At the midnight hour, the Angel of the Lord appeared to the blessed young woman and, touching her, said: “Rise and be healthy! Go and expose Volusian, for both he himself and his intention are insignificant before God.” Immediately Saint Aquilina rose up unharmed and said, sending up praise to God: “I thank You, Creator of my life, who restores me to health and delivers Your servants from the wickedness, You, Lord, are eternal and there is no other God besides You. I humbly pray to You for one thing: when I finish the feat of my suffering, crown me with the crown of Your glory, and, enjoying the fulfillment of Your promises, I will then sing to You among the faces of the saints who suffered for the confession of Your name.” The Lord from above answered the prayer of His humble servant: “Go, and what you ask for will be fulfilled.” Hearing this, the blessed young woman went into the city with a feeling of inexpressible joy. When she reached the city gates, they opened of their own accord; Guided by the Angel of the Lord, Saint Aquilina reached the palace of Volusian and, entering unhindered inside it, stood in front of the sleeping anfipat. The latter, waking up, noticed what was coming; in horror, he called his cuviculari 3879 and asked them: “Who is this standing before my eyes?” The Cuvicularii, raising their lamps, said: “Without a doubt, this is Aquilina, whom you, after her death from torture, ordered to be thrown to the dogs.” The anfipat was even more horrified when he listened to the cuvicularians, however, he ordered to keep the girl in custody until the morning. When day came, Volusian again demanded Saint Aquilina to appear before him for trial. He began it with a question addressed to the young woman: - Do you, the lawless one, having your spiritual eyes blinded by your father the devil, do you not now see with your physical eyes? – the blessed young woman asked in turn. “Indeed, I, the servant of the Lord standing before you, am Aquilina.” In great bewilderment, rubbing his eyes, the anfipat reasoned with himself: “What kind of torment could harm her if she did not die, despite the fact that her brain leaked out of her burning head?” Having thought this, he issued the following definition about the beheading of the maiden with a sword: “Aquilina, the defender of the godless Christian heresy, although young in years, but a great sorceress who does not honor the immortal gods and does not obey the royal commands, we for a long time and diligently admonished, however, we could not turn her away from madness, therefore, after many torments, we did not touch This sorceress, we determine to put her to death outside the city through truncation of the head.” After the death sentence, Saint Aquilina was led to the place of execution; when they reached him, the blessed young woman asked herself time for prayer. Raising her eyes to heaven, the martyr prayed in these words: “Almighty Lord and my God! I thank You, who brought me to the end of my feat: I praise You, my God and Creator of all, that I did not complete the course of my suffering journey in vain; I bless You, Creator of everything, that You have shamed the tormentor, and You have honored me with an imperishable crown; receive my spirit in peace, so that I may leave earthly things and gain heavenly things.” In response to the blessed woman’s prayer, a voice was heard from heaven: “Come, chosen virgin, who trampled down the fury of the tormentor and erased the devil’s sting with your feat, and accept the reward prepared for you.” And now, following the voice, the holy martyr of Christ fell into the sleep of death, before the executioner raised the sword over her head. The executioner, although he saw this, did not dare to violate the command of the anfipat, and cut off the head of the already dead woman with a sword, and instead of blood, milk flowed from the wound. The Christians present at the execution took the relics of the martyr as if they were an incomparable jewel: having anointed the remains with valuable aromas and wrapped them in new shrouds, they buried them with honor in a tomb in the city of Vivlos itself. And many healings were poured out on the sick from the tomb of the holy martyr Aquilina for the glory of Christ our God, glorified forever with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen 3880. Having purified your soul with kindnesses of your virginity, you rose to the heights of torment, the all-honorable Aquilino, wounded by the love of your Bridegroom Christ, who stood with the Angels rejoicing: with them do not cease praying for all of us. Vivlos, or Byblos, is a city actually in Phenicia. During the reign of Diocletian (284–305), four decrees were issued against Christians. The first was announced in February 303. This decree ordered the destruction of churches and the burning of sacred books, at the same time Christians were deprived of civil rights, honor, protection of laws and their positions; Christian slaves lost the right to freedom if, having received it on any occasion, they remained in Christianity. Soon a second decree was issued, which ordered all heads of churches and other clergy to be imprisoned; thus, the decree concerns only clergy; the latter were accused before the emperor as the instigators of the uprising in Syria and Armenia, which, unfortunately for Christians, began after the appearance of the first decree. In the same 303, a third decree followed: on the basis of the second decree, all prisoners were ordered to be forced to make sacrifices under fear of torture for resistance. Finally, in 304, the last fourth decree was promulgated, which announced the widespread persecution of Christians. Because of this decree, most Christian blood was shed: it was in effect for 8 whole years, until 311, when Emperor Galerius, by a special decree, declared Christianity a “permissible religion.” Diocletian's persecution was the last; in it, Christianity, after almost three centuries of struggle, won a final victory over paganism. Those. with the water of baptism, which regenerates one to new life and strengthens it with the grace of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 3:5–6). The holy martyr Aquilina died in 283, on June 13. Her holy relics, or part of them, were transferred to Constantinople, and her memory was solemnly celebrated in the church named after her. The last one burned down in 532, during the reign of Justinian, but was rebuilt. We find a mention of this church in a verse prologue of the 12th century. You might be interested in: