He was born of barbarians
Saint Christopher is one of the most popular Martyrs. He is loved and
honoured in the east and west. He holds a great position within our
church’s Saints (agiologion).
However, nothing indicated that this man, one day, was going to
become important, great and a Saint. Everything was against him since
his early years.
He was born about 200 A.D. in an eastern barbaric country in Asia
among a race of cannibals. When these cannibals captured a weak human
being, they chopped him into small pieces, drank his blood as if it was
milk, baked his flesh and ate it with great pleasure.
He was even endowed with a body of huge size. He was giant bodied.
But he was very ugly too. This is why he was called Reprovos which means
deformed i.e. dog faced.
However, deep down, he had a really good soul and this is why God guided him to get to know Christ and learn the Gospel’s truth.
This is how.
How he got to know Christ the King.
Because he had great bodily strength, he left for the west in order to find a king or a lord to serve as a bodyguard.
At that time there were many local kings and lords and he would
definitely be useful to one of these. He wanted to find the greatest
one.
But while en route, he found a Reverent Father in a desolated place.
He was a Hermit. The Hermit welcomed him and hosted him with his poor
means. The Hermit’s kindness and love made a great impression on him.
During their conversation, the giant bodied Christopher asked the
Hermit whether he knew any great king in order to offer him his
services. The Hermit answered him that he indeed knew the greatest king
of all, meaning Christ.
The hermit said to him: “If you serve Him, you will be rewarded abundantly.”
Finally and in a few words he catechized him about Christ. He taught him the truth and the teachings of the Gospel.
So he asked the Hermit: “How can I please Christ the King? What shall I do?”
The Hermit answered him: “Fast and pray.”
Reprovos replied to him: “I do not know how to pray and it is not very easy for me to fast.”
Then the Hermit said to him: “Offer your strength and your giant body in His Service.”
“How? Is there any way?”
The Hermit replied: “Of course. Can you see this river? There is no
bridge crossing it and a lot of people suffer and are drowned. So, you
are going to carry the passersby on your shoulders and take them to the
other side of the river. In this way you serve Him. It will be as if you
help Him to cross it, and thereby you will save your soul.”
“I will do that with great pleasure.” he said.
Indeed. He built a hut close to the river and carried everyone on his
shoulders for free. He did that in order to serve the Lord Christ and
save his own soul.
How he carried Christ.
One night that was very dark and frightening, there was a lot of
thunder and lightening and it was raining very hard. The water level of
the river had increased very much. Reprovos was in his hut praying.
During that very dark night while thunder and lighting were cleaving the
sky, he heard a young child crying from the one side of the river. The
child was asking him to carry him and take him to the other side of the
river so that he would not die because of the cold and rain.
Reprovos was in a dilemma. He thought that it was a sin to stay in
his hut and not offer his help, because the child would have died out
there. On the other hand it was very dangerous to attempt to carry it
because the water level of the river was very high.
He decided to make an attempt. He took a big wooden stick, made the
sign of the cross and got into the river. He crossed the river and put
the child on his shoulder.
When he got back into the river in order to cross it again, he felt
that the child was becoming heavier and heavier. He was panting and
sweating. He was holding on to the stick with all his might power in
order to manage to cross the river without being carried away by it. The
effort was great. Finally, he managed to get out on the other bank of
the river.
He said to the child: “My child, if I had carried the whole world, it would not have been as heavy as you.”
The child answered him: “Indeed, not only did you carry the whole
world, but also The One who created the world. I am the Lord Christ Whom
you serve here.”
Straight after that The Child disappeared.
This is why he is portrayed crossing the river, holding onto a stick
and carrying The Child – Christ on his shoulder. So, when he was
baptized, he was given the name Christopher (which in Greek means
Christ-bearer) and not Reprovos, exactly because he had carried Christ.
Due to this incident i.e. carrying Christ, he is the patron Saint of
transportation, aviators, drivers, travelers and of the professions that
require great physical strength. This is why there is his icon in cars,
airplanes and all means of transportation.
Captured in Rome.
He was forced to stop this meritorious work of transferring people
from one side of the river to the other. This is because when the Roman
legions conquered the country, Christopher was captured and taken to
Rome as a slave.
Mighty Rome boasted about its power that was based on violence. He
was mistreated there. No one paid any attention to him. They only wanted
to take advantage of his physical strength and to mock him. They called
him Reprovos i.e. ugly, wild man.
Nevertheless, an uncut diamond was hidden beneath this deformed body.
The persecuted Christians noticed that and took him in their meetings.
He was amazed by the love that the faithful ones showed him.
It seems that he joined the Roman legions and fought against the Persians under the ruler-ship of Gordius and Philip.
His tongue is loosened.
During the fourth year of Decius’ reign, Decius started persecuting
the Christians. He sent commands to all local governors to force the
Christians to eat foods that had been offered to idols as sacrifices
i.e. foods that had been sprayed with the blood of the offered
sacrifices. Furthermore, he ordered that those who did not want to eat
and deny Christ would be punished with all sorts of torture and finally
would be executed.
Because all the local governors and rulers wanted to be well liked by
the Emperor, they executed his commands with accuracy and cruelty. So,
the idolaters were protected but the Christians, on the other hand, were
always persecuted with cruelty.
Christopher was then in Lycia. He felt very sad watching the
idolaters torturing the Christians every day. He wanted to criticize the
idolaters for that. Due to his inability to speak clearly and well, he
went out of the city to a remote place, kneeled down and prayed to God.
He said: “Please, my God, listen to me and pity me, your unworthy
slave. Please, open my lips and give me the voice to criticize the
tyrant”.
He had not finished his praying when an Angel, in a white dress,
appeared in front of him and told him: “Reprovos your prayer has been
granted. Get up so that you receive the gift from the Lord”.
As soon as he got up, the Angel touched the Saint’s lips with his
finger and blew into his mouth. Immediately, his tongue was loosened and
he spoke freely. He talked as if he was an orator.
He criticizes Christians’ persecutors.
He then returned immediately to the city and saw some Christians
being tortured. His heart pained and he felt that he, himself, was being
tortured. He criticized the idolaters by saying:
“Why, are you, blinded and obscured men, torturing them? Is it not
enough for you that you have given your souls to satan? You are forcing
us, who love God, to be lost eternally together with you. I am telling
you that I am a Christian and I do not condescend to kneel before these
fake, useless and disgusting gods of yours.”
While the Saint was still talking, a servant, called Vacchios, hit him on his lips.
“I do not give any such answer as you did and I do not pay you back
as you deserve”, said the Saint with mildness. “My Savior Christ hinders
me. But if I get angry, your whole corrupted kingdom will not be able
to beat me”.
Vacchios went straight away to the king who was there and reported him that.
“There is, my king, in the last couple of days a fearful giant in our
area. His appearance and looks are very wild. His teeth are protruded
of his mouth exactly like a dog’s. He is indescribably ugly. The most
important thing is that he blasphemes our gods and your reign. This is
why I hit him on his face. Then, he boasted that he was not afraid of
your whole kingdom. I ran straight away to tell you all these in case
the Christians’ God sent this giant bodied one in order to help them.”
When Decius heard the news, he became furious and said to him: “Are
you perhaps possessed by an evil spirit and that is why he looked to you
as such?”
Straight away he gave a command to 200 soldiers saying: “Go and tie
him up and bring him in front of me. If he resists, chop him into
thousands of pieces and bring his head to me so that I can see whether
he is as fearful as this coward says”.
He multiplies the bread.
Meanwhile, the Saint thrusted his pole into the ground and went into
the Church. There, he prayed to God to give him strength and to become
more willing to avow Him. When he finished praying and left, he saw that
his dried up pole had sprouted like Aaron’s stick. From this miracle he
mustered up strength and courage in order to avow Christ and to be
martyred.
The soldiers, who were sent by Decius in order to arrest him, were afraid to approach him, when they saw him from distance.
One of them said: “Why are we afraid of him? He is not armed.”
They approached him and asked him: “Man, where are you coming from and why are you crying?”
He replied to them: “I am crying for the mindless humans who deserted the real God and kneel before insensitive idols.”
When the soldiers heard him talking to them with mildness and
kindness, they got courage and said to him: “Our king sent us to arrest
you and take you to him because you do not kneel before the old gods but
someone new.”
He replied to them: “If you do not force me, I will come willingly by
myself, but to arrest me and pull me by force is impossible.”
The soldiers then told him: “You can go wherever you want to, if you
do not want to come and we will tell the king that we could not find
you.”
The Saint answered them: “No, but please wait for a while, until I
receive Holy Baptism and then we will go together to the king.”
They said to him: “We cannot do that because we have been looking for
you many days and our supplies have run out and we are hungry. If you
can find some food for us and feed us, then we can wait for you.”
But Saint Christopher had only one piece of bread for himself.
One of the soldiers said to him: “If you have the power to satisfy
our hunger with this piece of bread, then we will very gladly follow
your God.”
When he heard that, a heavenly hope was born in Saint Christopher’s heart. So, immediately he kneeled down and prayed.
He said: “My Lord, You Who multiplied in the desert the five breads
and fed with them thousands of people, please bless this piece in order
to feed the hungry ones so that they are enlightened, become
acquaintanted with You, believe in You and avow You.”
The soldiers stared at him praying on his knees. What was this man waiting and hoping for?
But suddenly they all let out a sound of exclamation, because they
saw this very piece being multiplied, when an Angel of Christ appeared
in front of them and blessed it. It was multiplied to such an extent
that they could all be fed and still some would be left over.
He baptizes his persecutors.
After this miracle, the soldiers, who had come to arrest him, were
arrested by him. However, not in order to be lost but to be saved.
They, then, forgot their hunger. They fell in front of Saint
Christopher’s feet, begging him to talk to them about his God. He told
them to eat and then full of joy he catechized them to the teachings of
the Lord, which is included in the Gospel. The net was full of fish.
Everyone, with no exception, unanimously declared that they would become
Christians. They all left full of joy, not to go to the king, but to
Antioch and presented themselves to Bishop Vavylan, who was later
martyred and became a Saint. He also felt great joy himself, when he was
informed about all these wondrous things that God had performed by
Christopher. He catechized the soldiers more adequately and baptized
them. Together with them he baptized Reprovos and gave him the name
Christopher (i.e. the one who carries Christ, in Greek) since he had
carried Christ in the past.
Saint Christopher, then, advised the soldiers to return to the king.
While en route he was telling them: “My beloved brothers, you have now
become acquaintanted with and believed in Christ, the true God. Let us
all now suffer injuries and blights for Him in this futile world. Let us
all not deny Him no matter what we suffer for Him. We must stand brave
and not coward at all, when facing the tyrants’ threats and their cruel
punishments. He, from above, will give us strength and aid throughout
the martyrdoms. But if you are afraid of tortures, leave and go wherever
you want. But you must take care of the salvation of your souls.”
He makes Emperor Decius loose his voice.
But the soldiers did not want to leave. They had all made up their
minds to be martyred for their Faith. The Saint was delighted by that
and said to them: “Tie me up and take me to Decius as you were commanded
by him”.
The soldiers did not consent in any way to tie up their teacher, who
had guided them to the True Faith. In the end they tied him up since he
insisted.
When they arrived at the royal palace and Decius saw that he was giant bodied and brave, he, Decius, got afraid.
Saint Christopher said to him: “Did you get afraid of me the human
being, you poor? How are you going to manage with God’s wrath at the
time of judgment, when you face God in order to apologise at that
fearful tribunal for all your crimes against the Christians and all
these souls you sent to hell, by forcing them to deny Christ?”
The tyrant asked him: “What is your name? Which is your race and faith? Which is your country?”
He asked all these questions kindly in the beginning, because he
wanted to bring him round to his ideas. He also thought that as he was
brave and robust he would have been useful for his army. But Decius did
not manage anything.
Saint Christopher answered him: “I am Christian. My name used to be
Reprovos but now since I am baptized I am called Christopher. I am my
Christ’s soldier. Him I serve. I fight for Him and I never obey your
godless commands.”
Decius said to him: “You have been given a bad and cold name. It is not worth anything to you, fool.”
The Saint answered him: “Your name is cold, because you defy the real God and you kneel before empty stones.”
“Feel sorry for your valour and offer a sacrifice to the gods and I
will honour you so much and I will make you a priest of the gods if you
do not want to be lost vainly.”
“For God’s sake! How can I deny my True God and kneel before your
pointless idols! Keep your goods for yourself and your adherents. I do
not feel sorry for my body but for my soul. This is why I worship and
kneel before the Immortal God. Your gods are demons and they delude you,
until they mislead your souls to loss. Do not lose your words and do
not have any hope that I will believe in your fake gods. So, act as you
think without any delay.”
The awful tortures.
Decius became furious and he ordered the Saint to be hanged up by the
longest hair of his head. Additionally, to hang a heavy stone on his
feet and at the same time his body to be struck with swords. The Saint
endured all these bravely and while hanged up he said to the tyrant:
“Neither do I obey you, the most impious nor do I kneel before your gods
and take any notice of the tortures, no matter how awful they are
because they are transient and will pass. But the eternal hell is
waiting for you, which you are going to inherit together with the demons
that you, most wretched, worship!”
The king got even more furious and ordered the Saint’s armpit to be burnt with large lit candles.
The noblemen, noticing his bravery and astonished by his rigid ideas,
advised Decius to treat him in a kind way, in case he obeyed, so that
they could use him in any war. When they untied him, the king begged him
saying: “Why are you, such a kind man, so stubborn? Avow our gods,
because I want you to be the driver of my carriage.”
The Saint replied to him: “If you become Christian I will gladly
become the driver of your carriage and thus you will reign together with
Christ in Paradise eternally.”
The two corrupt women believe.
The king, having realized that there was no point in making this
effort, used another satanic method in order to make the Saint sin and
take him away from believing in Christ. He ordered two good looking
prostitutes dressed up in precious clothes and fragrant perfumes to be
brought. He then locked them up with the Saint in a royal room. He
promised them that he would give them a lot of money if they finally
managed to make Christopher sin and kneel before the idols.
As soon as they were locked in, the Saint kneeled and prayed loudly:
“My Lord, look at the machinations they thought of in order that I might
sin and deny You! Save me, my Lord and keep me invulnerable. Do not
desert me, my Lord, because you have the power and the glory in the
ages.”
The Saint got up and asked the women, what they wanted. They got
scared. The Saint asked them again with mildness and they replied: “The
king has sent us in order to make you obey him so that he does not kill
you in a dreadful way.”
Saint Christopher answered them: “I am not afraid of this temporary
death. I struggle and I desire to reign together with Christ eternally. I
advise you to believe in Him as well and you will be delighted, because
you will inherit every pleasure and exult together with the Saints in
Paradise forever.”
These words, with God’s grace and inspiration, made a great
impression on the women, who said to each other: “If we believe in
Christ, Decius will find it out and kill us. If again we do not believe
in Christ, this man will kill us straight away because he is
strong-armed and wild. So it is better for us to believe in Christ
because if we die for Him, He will give us eternal and immortal life,
after death.”
So they turned to the Saint and said to him: “We believe in Christ.
Pray to Him in order to forgive our many sins and accept us.”
The Saint asked them: “Have you killed or bewitched anyone?”
They replied to him: “No we have not. We even bought out a lot of
slaves and people who were sentenced to death with the money we earned
from prostitution. Our sin is prostitution. We have not done anything
else bad.”
Then, the Saint, using his hand, blessed them by making the sign of
the cross on them, and prayed: “Lord Jesus Christ, receive your slaves
Akilina and Kalliniki and make them sheep of your flock so that they can
be counted with Your Saints. Forgive them all the sins they committed
in consciousness or not.”
After this prayer he taught them the Christian Belief. Being inspired
by God’s Grace, they felt unutterable joy. They glorified Christ for
becoming acquantanted with and believing in Him.
Akilina, the first to be martyred.
On the next day the two women were brought in front of Decius. He asked them: “Did you manage to make him kneel before idols?”
They replied to him: “We, in the end, believed in Christ, because He is indeed the True God and Savior.”
“So he charmed you too!” Decius said surprised.
Akillina said to him: “There is only one God, The One Who created the
Sky and the Earth and saves those who believe in Him. Your gods are
just common stones and clay and cannot help you.”
Decius was stunned and his face became red because of anger. Then, he
commanded his soldiers to hang her up from the hair of her head and two
big stones to be tied to her feet.
Due to burden of the stones her body was just about to be cut in the
middle. Being in great pain, she said to the Saint: “Please, slave of
God, pray for me because, I am in great pain.”
The Saint then lifted his arms towards the Sky and said: “Lord Jesus
Christ, show mercy to your slave. Do not allow her to be tortured even
more, but receive her spirit in peace.”
As soon as he finished his prayer, Martyr Akillina delivered her soul in God’s hands. It was the first of April, 251 A.C.
Kalliniki destroys the idols.
Then the tyrant turned towards Kalliniki and said to her: “You saw
what happened to her because she was stubborn and quarrelsome. At least
you must think wisely and offer a sacrifice to gods, if you wish not to
suffer the same or even worse than she did.”
Kalliniki, wanting to mock the religion of idols, said to the tyrant:
“Because, you, king, command me, I have to obey your royalty. So, take
me to the temple in order to honour the gods, as I am supposed to and as
you have ordered me to.”
The king was fooled and believed her. He thought that she really
meant that and got happy, the poor fool. He ordered white carpets to be
laid out on the streets from the palace to the temple of idols. His
lancers escorted her with great happiness, sprinkling her with fragrant
and precious myrrh throughout the whole route.
When they arrived in front of the temple, Kalliniki asked the priests of the idols: “Which god is the greatest?”
They pointed to Jupiter’s statue.
Kalliniki grasped it by its hand and said to it: “If you are a god
speak up and tell me what to do, because I have come to serve you.”
Since there was no response she screamed: “God of the Idolaters, speak to me.”
But still there was no answer.
Then she laughed and said: “Alas, I, the sinful one, that the gods
got angry with me, because I contempted them and they do not want to
forgive me. Or is it maybe that they are asleep and they cannot hear.”
Then the idols’ priests said to her: “Repent with all the strength of
your soul in order that you are forgiven by them, because you denied
them.”
The martyr took off her belt and tied it to the statue. She then
looked up to the sky and prayed: “Lord Jesus Christ, God and Savior of
our souls help me on this occasion. She then pulled her belt as hard as
she could and brought down Jupiter’s statue and then Hercules’ and
Apollo’s and as many as she could, saying: “Go away and disappear gods
of the idolaters.”
The priests of the idols got furious because of anger and grabbed her
so that she could not bring down the rest of the statues but she mocked
them saying: “Pick up the bones of your gods and bring oil and salt in
order to heal them.”
Then all the idolaters and their priests went to Decius and said to
him: “This woman, whom you sent to us and is possessed by an evil
spirit, brought down our gods and destroyed the most significant ones.
Had we not arrested her on time, she would have crashed them all down.”
The king being furious said: “Didn’t you, evil woman, promise me that
you would offer a sacrifice to the idols? How did you, bitch, dare to
bring them down?”
She answered him: “I did not destroy gods; I only destroyed stones so
that you could use them to build houses, if you need them. Alas, you
fools that you called these gods, which were beaten by a woman. How do
you expect those to help you, if they were not able to protect
themselves?”
How much inspiration and strength did Christ give invisibly to His Martyr!
Then, the tyrant got angry and commanded that she had to be hanged up
on a scaffold and have a long skewer thrusted from the heel up to the
shoulder and have two big stones hung from her legs.
The pains of the blessed one were great and intolerable. She pleaded
with the Saint to pray to God to take her. And that, indeed happened.
After the Saint’s prayer, Kalliniki, the well victorious one, delivered
her soul, into God’s hands, cleaned now by the blood of martyrdom,. It
was on the second of April 251 A.C.
The martyrdom of the 200 soldiers.
Decius turned towards the Saint and swore at him in madness: “You,
dog-face should have died and not these two beautiful women, who were
seduced by your sorcery. Now, what do you say? Are you going to offer a
sacrifice to the gods or do you still insist on your stubbornness?”
The martyr laughed and said to him: “You being called Decius is
appropriate, because you accept to cooperate with satan, whose a vessel
and an instrument you are and you fulfill all his wishes. Why are you
wasting your time trying me? I told you so many times that I do not
kneel before idols. I wanted to bring you, if I could, to the state of
Knowledge of God. But you are not a simple atheist. You are completely
blind and you cannot see The Sun of justice. So, come on, torture the
righteous ones unjustifiably.”
Having said this, the Saint saw the soldiers, who had previously
believed in Christ, all gathered in a place and said to them: “Come on
Christ’s brave men, join the battle!”
So, they threw their belts, weapons and suits of arm on the floor,
approached the Saint and started embracing Him saying: “Thank you for
enlightening and guiding us to Christ, for Whom we are willing to die.”
When Decius saw the soldiers embracing the Saint, he got afraid in
case Saint Christopher overthrew him and took over his kingdom. This is
why he said to him: “Have you now become a rebel and a revolutionist?”
The Saint answered him: “Do not be afraid. I am not going to take
over your kingdom. You, yourself, are going to inherit the eternal fire,
together with those who follow you.”
The soldiers said: “We, king, believed in Christ when you sent us out
to arrest Christ’s slave. It was then, when we ate Heaven-sent bread.
We are not going to deny such a faith, no matter how many tortures we
suffer.”
Decius said: “What did I do to you, my children and you have deserted
me? Did you lack horses, clothes and money? Please, return to me and I
shall double your wages. Do not abandon me!”
The soldiers replied to him: “Keep you wealth for yourself and enjoy
it. Neither are we in need of your goods nor are we afraid of your
punishments.”
Decius became afraid in case other soldiers copied their example and
returned to Christ. Therefore, he commanded them to be decapitated
outside the city. When his command was executed, their relics were
thrown into a furnace in order to be burnt. But they remained intact by
the fire.
Some pious men took the relics secretly and buried them with great reverence. It was on the seventh of April 251 A.C.
The fire respects him and another thousand believe.
After that, Decius imprisoned the Saint and a couple of days later he was brought again in front of the tribunal.
“Now, listen you fool” said the emperor. “If you do not listen to me
and kneel before the gods, I am going to exterminate you through a great
number of tortures. This is it! Enough! I will not wait anymore.”
“Do not bully me, you, son of the devil and heir of eternal hell”
said the Saint. “I have The True God as my aider and I am not afraid of
your punishments.”
Then, Decius became even more furious and commanded Saint Christopher
to be put to sit on a copper chair. Underneath that chair they
accumulated a lot of logs and pour 20 jugs of oil on them. Then, they
lit a fire. The flames surrounded the Saint and were very high. Everyone
was praying. But the Saint felt as if he was in a cool and a pleasant
place. After a long time, when the fire went out, the Saint came out
completely healthy and intact. Not even a piece of hair on his head was
burnt; his clothes were untouched by the fire
too.
The approximately one thousand people who saw this miracle, believed
in Christ and said loudly: “We believe in Christ too. The God of
Christians is Great. Help us Heavenly God.”
At the same time, they knelt at the Saint’s feet saying: “It is
absolutely just that you have been called Christopher (meaning in Greek
the one who carries Christ) because, indeed, you have Christ in your
soul and you did not become a coward when facing the tyrant’s
punishments.
Then they turned towards Decius and said to him courageously: “Shame
on you, ruler Decius, shame. There is nothing you can do. You are beaten
by the powerful God of the Christians.”
Decius, seeing the people’s enthusiasm and agitation became afraid
and ran through the revolted people and hid himself in his palace.
So, the Saint, free at last, remained at the agora and started
talking to those people who had believed in Christ. With his words, he
strengthened the people in the true Christ’s faith.
The idolaters went to the palace, met the king and asked him to kill
the Saint. “If you let him free like that, your kingdom is in danger”
they said to him.
Indeed, on the next day, when the idolaters had a big feast, the
emperor stepped on the tribune , and he commanded a great number of
soldiers to go and arrest the Christians and decapitate them.
Saint Christopher encouraged them by saying: “Do not be afraid of
this temporary death. This is the only way to live eternally in Heaven.”
Listening to his words, they happily accepted death like pure and benignant lambs. It was on the 9th of April 251 A.C.
He is sentenced to death.
After all these, Decius thought about various ways of killing the
Martyr. So, he ordered his soldiers to hang a big stone from the Saint’s
neck. Then, they tied him up hand and foot and threw him into a deep
well. They thought that that would have been the Saint’s end.
But God did not abandon his slave. An Angel of the Lord came down to
the well and took him out of there alive and uninjured. When Decius saw
the Saint again, he got furious from anger. He twirled frantic and
soliloquising. He could not digest that. It shamed him as an emperor, as
an authority. He then turned to the Saint and said to him: “Enough!
Until when are you going to resist using sorcery? Until when are you
going to endure tortures?”
The Saint replied to him: “Until I complete this ephemeral life. With
God’s aid I am going to endure and disregard the tortures.”
But then the tyrant thought of another satanic torture. He commanded a
copper uniform to be made. Then it was taken and put into the fire.
When the copper became red hot, it was put on the Saint and they waited
for him to be burnt.
But a great miracle took place. The fire of the burning copper did not touch the Saint at all. He was left untouched and sound.
The emperor got really furious, but he continued inciting the Saint
to offer a sacrifice to the idols. The Saint steadily repeated: “I said
it and declared it. You have heard it so many times. You know well that I
am not going to change my opinion. Why do you insist? I am not going to
kneel before the idols. So, why do you make yourself tired and waste
your time? I, king, only kneel before my God. I worship the existing,
since the beginning of time, God.”
Seeing the steady faith of the Saint, Decius, shaking from anger,
pronounced the death sentence of the Martyr and said: “I, the emperor of
the Romans, command this difficult to punish and useless Christian to
be decapitated, because he scorned my commands.”
He is decapitated.
The executioners then took the Saint and brought him to the place of
his execution. Crowds also arrived at the place where the Saint was
going to be beheaded.
There, Christ’s Martyr asked the executioner to respect his last wish and permit him a bit of time to pray.
The permission was granted. In an atmosphere of absolute silence, the
crowds heard in contrite agitation the Saint praying in this way:
“My Lord, God, Ruler of everything, thank You. In and with everything
You helped me. You shamed my enemy, the devil and its servants. Now, my
most gracious God, that the time of the end of my earthly life has
come, please help me. Receive my spirit in peace. Place me among Your
most vile slaves. Judge the unrighteous Decius according to his acts of
impiety. His punishment will be righteous and the demons will dominate
him and eat up his flesh until he is consumed. Additionally, I beg You,
my God, help the Christians and release them from the scandals of evil.
Most merciful God, give Your grace to my body to dismiss the demons,
wherever there is a part of my relic. Give your grace, Lord, so that
there is no hunger, catastrophe from hail or anything else bad, wherever
there is even a small piece of my relic. Keep safe, sound and untouched
by anything bad, those who read and celebrate the memory of my
martyrdom. Thus, Your blessed name will be glorified.”
While the Saint was concluding his prayer in this way, a voice came
from the sky, as an answer saying: “Everything that you have asked me
for I fulfill, so that you are pleased. But I even tell you something
more. If somebody calls for my help in his prayer and remembers your
name, he will get my help immediately, very soon. So, come, I am waiting
for you. Come now in order that you enjoy the great and incomparable
joy that I prepared for you. You have struggled, suffered, fought and
won. The wreath of victory which is waiting for you is precious.”
When the Saint heard all these, he got filled with joy and happiness.
He looked at the executioner kindly with his eyes shining with heavenly
brightness and said to him: “Do, my child, what you have been
commanded.”
The executioner, with mixed feelings, approached the Saint reverently and then shaking, he beheaded him.
So, he executed a command that he did not agree with. Then, this
miserable one, without knowing what he was doing, having qualms about
what he had done, flooded with the Martyr’s blood, he slaughtered
himself and died on top of the honourable body of the Saint.
It was a spring day. The field was flowering with multicoloured and
fragrant flowers. Among these flowers, the pure and innocent blood of
the Martyr Saint Christopher was running.
It was the 9th May 251 A.C.
After the Saint’s decapitation, Peter, the Bishop in Attalia came and
managed to take the Martyr’s body by bribing the guards and the firing
squad with couple silver coins. He anointed it with myrrh, wrapped it in
clear sheets and brought it to the city.
Somewhere there, there was a river that often burst its banks and
thus destroyed the agricultural production. On the banks of this river
the Bishop buried the relic of Saint Christopher. Since then the river
never again destroyed the city or the farmland.
The awful end of Decius.
The punishment of the barbaric and bloodthirsty tyrant did not take a
long time to come. Decius got an awful and horrific illness. His body
started decomposing as the Saint said in his prayer. But his soul did
not come out of his body. He felt pain and suffered greatly. He could
not find peace anywhere.
He understands that he suffers due to the terrible and indescribable
tortures he made the Christians go through. He also suffers for the
cruel Martyrdom he subjected Saint Christopher to.
He tries to find a small piece of the Saint’s relic in order to put it on himself so that he can die.
The queen told him: “I warned you to be careful, not to torture sacred people. But you did not pay any attention to me.”
Decius suffering from great pain yelled to his soldiers saying: “All
of you run. Search for Christopher’s relic. Find me a piece from his
clothes or soil from his grave. Run! I am suffering. I am tortured. I am
dissolving alive.”
The soldiers ran of course everywhere. But they found nothing. So,
they went and got some soil from the place where the Saint was
decapitated, where his blood was poured.
A bit of this soil was mixed with water. From this mixture the
bloodthirsty tyrant drank and died. Decius’ punishment was a small taste
of the eternal punishment which was waiting for him.
Verse
I know you Christopher as bearing Christ, for Christ, the God, you were sacrificed, by the swords.
Recessional
You are beautified wearing the costumes made of blood, modest
Christopher you stand next to the Lord, the King of Heaven; from where
together with the chorus of the Incorporeals and Martyrs, you chant the
Thrice Holy and frightful melody; therefore through your supplications,
save your slaves.
Short hymn
You, glorious, carry Christ, in your soul, you seized strongly the
opponents’ principles; therefore Christopher intercede to Christ
persistently for our souls.
Hymn
Your prayers being like an iron pole, Martyr Christopher expel the
infectious diseases from us and award us peace, those who with faith
have a commemoration mass for you.
Christopher being an incomprehensible and sound Martyr, you changed
the idea and the notion of the opposites, you astonished the thick
crowds, struggling prodigiously, for you have the desire for God.
(†) CHARALAMBOS D. VASILOPOULOS
ARCHIMANDRITE
SAINTS’ LIVES (51)
SAINT CHRISTOPHER
His memory is celebrated on the 9th May.
EIGTH EDITION
10 KANIGGOS STREET – 10677 ATHENS, 2007
ORTHODOXOS TYPOS has
been struggling for Orthodoxy and for the nation.Office: 10 Kaniggos Street, 10677, Athens, Tel 210.38.16.206
