| Hieron Melitinsky | |
| Date of death | 298 |
Hieron and his squad
(Melitina - a city in Armenia, now Malatia) (d. III-IV century) - holy martyrs Hieron and 32 recruits suffered under the emperor Diocletian.
On the memorable day in the Orthodox Church on November 20 (7), the following names are celebrated: Hieron, Hesychius, Nicander, Athanasius, Mamant, Barachios, Kallinikos, Theagenes, Nikon, Longinus, Theodore, Valery, Xanthus, Theodulus, Callimachus, Eugene, Theo dokh, Ostrihiy, Epiphanius, Maximian, Ducitius, Claudian, Theophilus, Gigantius, Dorotheus, Theodotus, Castricius, Anicetas, Themelius, Eutyches, Hilarion, Diodotus, Amonite
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History[ | ]
The emperors were zealous worshipers of idols and persecutors of Christians. When it came to their ears that the inhabitants of the regions of Armenia and Cappadocia, contrary to the imperial decrees, refused to worship idols, they sent two crafty soldiers devoted to paganism, ordering them, firstly, to exterminate all Christians there and, secondly, to enroll everyone in the army husbands and young men capable of military service. The envoys carried out exactly the will of the emperors.
The young men were to join an additional detachment of the army, which was intended, in particular, to counteract Christianity, which was significantly widespread in Armenia and Cappadocia during the reign of Diocletian and stubbornly opposed the emperor’s command to honor the gods and observe pagan decrees. Hieron and other recruits, refusing to serve the emperor who destroyed Christians, were sent, accompanied by soldiers, to the neighboring city of Melitina. At Melitina they were imprisoned. When they were called for interrogation, they confessed the name of Christ with unshakable firmness, and no threats, no flattering promises could force them to renounce Christ. Then they were all sentenced to death. But first, they were subjected to severe torture. After the torture, the martyrs lived in prison for several more days; then, again summoned to trial and again refusing to renounce Christ after a cruel beating, barely alive, they were thrown into prison; the next morning they were all killed. Their bodies were secretly buried by Christians.
As Procopius testifies, when the Church of St. Irene was being built, the bodies of the holy martyrs were found incorrupt.
Martyr Evgeniy Melitinsky
Martyr Hieron and others with him who suffered at Melitene
Fatherland of St.
Hierona was the second (great) Cappadocia; He was born in the city of Tyana from a pious and God-fearing mother named Stratonice, during the reign of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, who were both zealous worshipers of idols and persecutors of Christians. When it came to the ears of the emperors that the inhabitants of the regions of Armenia and Cappadocia, contrary to imperial decrees, refused to worship idols, then after many conferences they elected two crafty, paganistic, cruel men, Agricolaus and Lysias, and sent the first to Armenia, and the second to Cappadocia, ordering they, firstly, execute all the local Christians who do not agree to worship idols, and, secondly, enroll in the army all the men and young men who are strong in body and capable of military service.
Arriving in Cappadocia, Lysias began to look for people suitable for recruitment in every possible way. By the way, they also informed him about Hieron as a healthy, strong man and distinguished by special courage. Lysias immediately sent soldiers to take him and bring him. The messengers did not find Hieron at home: he was at work in the field. The warriors went there and wanted to capture him; but Hieron, having learned that he was being taken for military service, refused to go with them, considering it harmful for a Christian to have fellowship and serve with idolaters. The soldiers wanted to take him by force, but the angry Hieron grabbed a tree that came to hand and began to beat them; he turned out to be so much stronger than the warriors that they fled, and he drove them like a lion chases kids. The soldiers scattered by him again gathered, however, in one place. They felt ashamed of each other that they not only could not defeat one person, but were also driven away by him. They were afraid to return to the one who sent them empty-handed and said among themselves that if they returned without Hieron, they would not only be ridiculed by everyone because one person had defeated them all, but also severely punished for cowardice. Therefore, they called their comrades to help them and for the second time rushed towards Hieron in even greater numbers. Hearing about this, he recruited a squad of eighteen Christian men, disappeared with them into a nearby cave and from there repelled the attacks of the pagans who besieged him. Meanwhile, the latter informed their superior that Hieron and other Christians had locked themselves in a cave, and they could not take him. The chief sent even more soldiers to help them, but still they could not do anything, since, fearing Hieron, no one dared even approach the entrance to the cave. Then the chief sent to them one of Hieron’s friends named Cyriacus. Kiriak, having arrived at the place, advised the soldiers to move away from the cave, since Hieron, he said, could only be taken with meekness and good advice, and not by force. When the soldiers left, Cyriacus went to Hieron and convinced him not to resist the authorities and to enroll in military service. With his peaceful conversation, he calmed Hieron, took him out of the cave and took him to his house to his mother, an old and blind widow. She began to loudly mourn her son, calling him the support of her old age and the light of her blind eyes, and complained that she was deprived of the only consolation in her sad widowhood. Meanwhile, the soldiers surrounding Hieron forced him to go with them. Having said goodbye to his weeping mother, neighbors and acquaintances who had gathered there, Hieron took with him one of his relatives named Victor and went to the city of Melitina along with the soldiers, accompanied by his two close relatives Matronian and Anthony and some other fellow believers. The travelers did not make it to Melitina before sunset and spent the night in the place where night found them. At night, someone dressed in white clothes appeared to blessed Hieron and announced to him in a meek and loving voice: “Salvation, Hieron, I bring you the gospel! You are walking the right path, since you are going to fight for the Heavenly King and will not soon fight for the perishing glory of the earth... Soon you will go to the Heavenly King and receive honor and glory from Him for your exploits.”
With these words, the one who appeared filled Hieron’s heart with unspeakable joy.
When he disappeared, Hieron woke up and joyfully announced to the friends and relatives who were with him: “I have learned the secret of God’s favor towards me and now I am walking with joy on the path ahead of me. The only true treasure, the only true inheritance, the only true riches, are those which are hidden in heaven; yet earthly blessings do not bring any benefit to those who receive them: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul”? For me there is nothing dearer or better than the soul... I have spent enough time of my life serving vanity, now I am going to God. Only one thing confuses me - the sadness of my mother, an elderly and infirm widow, deprived of the light of her eyes and without an assistant and intercessor. But I am going to die for Christ and to Him, the Father of orphans and widows, I entrust my mother.”
Having said this, Hieron shed a few tears for his mother and set off. In Melitina, Saint Jerome, together with thirty-three other Christians, was imprisoned. Here he told his fellow prisoners: “Listen, friends and brothers, to my advice, which will be useful to you not in this life, but in the next. All who fear God do not seek earthly temporary blessings, but future eternal blessings. You have heard that in the morning they want to force us to make sacrifices to false pagan gods: we will not obey, we will not worship idols and we will not make a sacrifice to them, let us rather offer a sacrifice of praise to our true God and lift up our prayers to Him, having heard which, He will give us strength to persevere and bravely endure the torment and deign us to have a blessed death.”
Hieron’s listeners unanimously answered: “Your words are sweet to us like honey! You advise us of what is truly beneficial and saving for us, and we all wish it would be better to die for Christ than to worship idols and live in vanity.”
The prison guards informed the prisoners of Lysias himself about this decision. The next morning he ordered the holy martyrs to be brought from prison to his trial, stood them before him and asked with anger:
– What demon led you to the insane decision to rebel against the authorities and disobey the royal command to worship the great gods?
“We, of course, would be madmen and toys of demons,” answered the saints, “if the honor due only to God were given to wooden and stone works of human hands.” But now we act wisely, for we worship the Creator of all, who created heaven and earth by His word and brought them from non-existence into being by the spirit of His mouth.
At this time, one of those present at the trial pointed Lysias to Hieron and said: “This is who resisted your messengers, and everything that you heard about was done by him.”
Lysias, looking at Hieron, asked where he was from, and when Hieron named his fatherland and place of birth, he asked him again:
“It was you who resisted the king’s order, relying on your physical strength, and beat the soldiers sent after you?”
“Yes, I,” the courageous Hieron answered boldly, “shouldn’t I hate those who hate You, O Lord, and not be disgusted by those who rebel against You (Ps. 139:21). That’s why I beat them up and chased them away like cowardly hares.
Hearing these words, Lysias became angry and, not giving due credit to Hieron’s courage and strength, reproached him for his disobedience and said: “Your madness has driven you to such insolence that you disobeyed the royal command, did not obey my order, and beat those sent by us. For this I command that your impudent hand, which obeyed your crazy head, be cut off to the very elbow.”
And immediately they cut off the hand of Saint Jerome, and at the command of the same tormentor they beat the other saints mercilessly for a long time.
Then they were all again thrown into prison and thanked God, who had made them worthy to endure such torment for His holy name. But one of them, the aforementioned Victor, a relative of Saint Jerome, exhausted from the beatings he received and fearing even greater ones in the future, secretly called to himself the official who kept a record of Christians captured and tortured, and humbly begged that his name, Victor, be erased from records of the names of prisoners suffering for Christ, and promised to give him one estate for this. Bribed by the gift promised to him, the official fulfilled Victor’s request - he erased his name from the record and released him from prison at night. But Victor, having left prison, soon died and thus lost his property, his life, and the crown of martyrdom.
When morning came, Saint Jerome learned about what had happened and, full of endless sadness, wept loudly for his relative, exclaiming: “Alas, Victor! what did you do? Oh, at what a high price you bought yourself! Why did you give yourself into the hands of the enemy? Why did you choose the shame of flight over a crown of glory? Why did you give eternal life for temporary life? Why did you put temporary relief above endless joy? Oh, how you were embarrassed by short-term suffering from minor wounds, which are nothing compared to the eternal torment that awaits you according to God’s judgment!”
Having mourned the man who had fallen from the martyrdom, Saint Hieron called to him his two relatives Anthony and Matronian, who followed him, and said to them: “Listen to my last will and, returning from here, carry it out. I give my property, located in Pisidia, to my sister Theotimia, so that she, receiving from it what she needs for food, will perform a memorial for me on the day of my death. However, I leave all my other property to my mother due to her widowhood and orphanhood; give her also my severed hand and tell her to write to her to ask the governor of the city of Ankyra, the noble Rustik, to give her a house in Vadisan, where let my hand be laid.”
Having left such a testament to his relatives, blessed Hieron calmly awaited his martyrdom. And so on the fifth day, Lysias again sat down in the judge’s seat and, calling the saints, began to force them to worship idols. For a long time he tried, both with caresses and threats, to turn them away from Christ, but had no success, and then he first ordered them to be beaten without mercy with sticks, and then condemned them to be beheaded with a sword. After much torment, the holy martyrs were condemned to death. Led by blessed Jerome, on the way to the place of execution they joyfully sang the words of the psalm: “Blessed are those who are blameless in the way, walking in the law of the Lord” (Ps. 119:1). Arriving at the place of execution, they knelt and prayed to the Lord: “Lord Jesus Christ, accept our souls!”
Then their holy heads were beheaded with the sword.
Antony and Matronian turned to Lysias with a request to allow them to take the body of their relative Hieron and, when Lysias did not agree, they begged him to give them at least the severed head of Hieron. He answered them that he would give the head only for an amount of gold equal in weight to it. Antony and Matronian greatly grieved that they did not have as much gold as Lysias demanded for the head, although, without a doubt, the honest head of the martyr was worth incomparably more. Then God put it into the heart of one rich and famous man, named Chrysaphia, to give a ransom for the head of the holy martyr Hieron: he gave Lysias as much gold as the head weighed, and, taking it, he kept it with honor. The selfish Lysias then began to look for the severed hand of the saint, hoping to receive gold for it; but Anthony and Matronian, having learned about this, fled to their homeland at night, taking with them the holy hand, and the bodies of him and the other holy martyrs, beheaded with him, were taken secretly by other Christians and buried in a hidden place. The aforementioned brothers, bringing the hand of Saint Jerome to his mother Stratonice, presented her with the holy remains. The mother, taking the hand of her beloved son, truncated for the sake of Christ, washed it with tears, kissed it with a mother’s kiss and applied it to her eyes. Rejoicing for her son and at the same time surrendering to natural grief, she said with tears: “My dear son, whom I gave birth to alive and healthy! Now I have only a small part of your dead body, but it arouses in me all the more grief. Alas, my son! I gave birth to you in illness, raised you in labor, hoping to have in you support in old age, support in illness, consolation in sorrows, and, instead, I lost you, the light of my blind eyes. But why am I crying, when I should be having fun and rejoicing that I am the mother of a martyr, that I gave the fruit of my womb to God, that you, beloved son, did not die the way people usually die? After all, a martyr’s death, such as you died, leads to many and great benefits! But, having departed from me, do not leave me completely, my son, and in your prayers intercede for me before the Lord, for whom you shed your blood, so that he would quickly free me from this difficult life, full of all sorts of troubles.”
After this weeping, Stratonica placed the saint’s hand in the place that he himself had deigned to indicate, and brought into fulfillment everything he had bequeathed. And Chrysaphius, who gave a golden ransom for the head of Saint Jerome, after a while built a church on the site where the holy martyrs were beheaded, and with honor placed the head of the martyr in it, glorifying the Holy Trinity.
How to pray in front of an icon
To pray in front of an icon, you first need to come to a certain state, step away from the bustle and everyday affairs and tune in only to communication with God or His Saints. For this reason, the best time for prayer is morning and evening, when a person is still or already free from the worries of the day and is ready for prayer. A candle or incense will help you quickly get into the desired state.
Among the prayers to Saint Eugene, two appeals to his patron are often distinguished.
Ask God for me, holy saint of God Eugene, I turn to you with zeal as a quick helper and prayer book for my soul.
The martyr of the all-honorable lordship, the five-numbered passion-bearers, let us sing the glory of those who despised the earth, the bright sun Eustratius, the wise spirit of the sufferers, who dared to face fire and torment for all the King Christ and from the throne of That glory were bestowed with honors of crowns. Through those prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.
WHAT DO YOU PRAY FOR IN FRONT OF THE ORTHODOX ICON OF SAINT EUGENE
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The name Eugene is translated from Greek as noble, noble. The Orthodox Church venerates many saints who bear this beautiful name. The most famous of them is the holy martyr Eugene of Sebaste. He lived during the era of Emperor Diocletian in the city of Sebastia, located on the territory of modern Armenia. The period of Diocletian's reign was marked by a surge of paganism, iconoclasm and persecution of Christians. For his fearless confession of Christ, his accusatory speeches against the emperor and his defense of icons, Saint Eugene was subjected to terrible torture, from which he soon died. His memory is celebrated on December 26. At one time, it was accepted in icon painting that all the saints who bore this name were reduced to one common image, and the icon of St. Eugene, as a rule, did not have other clarifying inscriptions. Now in churches you can see personalized icons of St. Eugene of Melitino, St. Eugene of Damascus, and St. Eugene of Caesarea.
Help in sorrows and illnesses from the icons of St. Eugene
Since ancient times, people have resorted to the miraculous icon of St. Eugene, asking for help in poverty and need, in various troubles and bad weather. They ask him, as someone who suffered for the name of Christ, to strengthen faith, prudence and the ability to correctly see a difficult situation.
For bearers of the female version of the name, there is an icon of St. Eugenia, which will help protect against lies, slander, anger and betrayal. They also ask this saint for help in healing from illnesses. This is connected with the life story of Saint Eugenia of Rome. At a young age, she secretly received holy Baptism from everyone and went to asceticism in a monastery, taking on the image of a young monk and calling herself by this name. Soon she was forced to open up and for many years she served the sick and poor, converting those around her to the Christian faith, until Emperor Gallienus began a new persecution of Christians. Then the saint was tortured and then executed. The day of her veneration is January 6. On the church icon she is depicted as a young nun.
Home prayer in front of the icons of St. Eugene
You can pray in front of the icons of Saint Eugenia not only in church, but also at home. You can get a personal icon in various ways - purchase a ready-made one in a specialized Orthodox online store or make an individual order from an icon painter.
Needlewomen will be pleased to embroider the icon of St. Eugene on their own - with beads or threads. Currently, there are many carefully developed patterns for this image, designed for embroidery in both techniques, which will greatly facilitate the painstaking work of craftswomen.
