28th December: Fourth Day of the Feast of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ Memory of the Holy Martyrs Burned in Nicomedia under Diocletian (303) In the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian, in the month of March, 303, imperial edicts were posted everywhere ordering the churches to be destroyed, the Scriptures to be burned, and proclaiming those who were in public office forfeited of their duties if they remained in the profession of Christianity. Shortly afterwards, under the instigation of Maximian Galerius and Diocletian, new decrees were promulgated ordering all the heads of the Church imprisoned in whatever country they be, and that they be compelled, by all means, to sacrifice. In Nicomedia, the great church was destroyed, and Anthimos, who then presided over this church, was beheaded because of the witness he rendered to Christ. A crowd of martyrs followed him. A fire, hypocritically ordered by Maximian, broke out in the imperial palace of Nicomedia at that time. On a lying suspicion, the rumor spread that it had been set on fire by the Christians. Also, on an imperial order, they were put to death without distinction; some were slaughtered by the sword, others were burned, and it is told that carried away by a divine and indescribable zeal, some men and women leaped onto the funeral-pyress. The executioners bound a crowd of others on ships and threw them to the bottom of the sea. (Source: rongolini) Apolytikion: Ήχος γ. Θείας πίστεως. Θείον στράτευμα, πόλις αγία, περιούσιος λαός Κυρίου, ανεδείχθητε δισμύριοι Μάρτυρες, τη γαρ αγάπη αυτού δροσιζόμενοι, δια πυρός τον αγώνα ηνύσατε. Αλλ αιτήσασθε, ελέους σοφοί τον πρύτανιν, δωρήσασθαι ημίν το μέγα έλεος. https://youtube/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ieROrVqcN9E#t=2
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 20:22:28 +0000