The Passion of the Holy Martyr Andrew Stratilat

The memory of 19 August the Impious Maximian [Here is understood not Diocletian's co-ruler Maximian Hercules, but Maximian Galerius, Diocletian's son-in-law and his co-ruler in the east of the Roman Empire.

He inspired Diocletian to issue a general law against Christians, which led to widespread persecution of them.]

Now there was a certain man named Antiochus, a centurion, a violent man, who threatened and murdered those who believed in the Lord Jesus.

He was given authority over all of Syria by the emperor and was given the command to torture and execute Christians, for which he was given a considerable number of commanders with Roman troops under his command.

Among the other centurions, like a fragrant lily among thorns, under Antiochus was a follower of Christ, Andrew, who initially kept the holy faith in Christ secret, and then, when the time came, he made it known to the whole world, openly confessing the name of Christ to all.

Though not yet baptized, he was nurturing a strong heart of faith and a burning love for Christ, avoiding any work that was displeasing to God and zealously doing things in harmony with God's will.

And God gave him courage and might, and he was exceedingly mighty in the army of the Romans, and he was exalted above the captains of the host.

When a large force of the Persian army came against Antiochus, they made a surprise attack on Syria.

But recalling the valiant commander Andrew, he hastened to call him to himself, entrusted him with the chief command of the army in his place and, naming him Stratilato, that is, the senior commander of the generals, ordered him to go with the troops against the invaders of the enemy and stop them.

And he said to him,

For thy courage and thy might in the war is known not only to me, but also to the emperor; and therefore have I given thee this high honour.

Take an army, command it in my place, and try to increase the glory you have.

In accepting this commission, the soldier of Christ, St. Andrew, desired not for his personal glory, but for the glory of the name of Jesus Christ, to fight with due valour against the enemies, but, like ancient Gideon (Judges 7:1), he chose only a small number of soldiers from the numerous Roman army for the war,

(Ps. 146:10-11) We can be confident that Jehovah will not allow our weaknesses to overwhelm us.

St. Andrew's choice fell upon those whom God's grace had shown him by the mysterious action of inspiration upon his heart, and he went forth with them against the enemies.

Seeing the very considerable forces of the enemy, who, like locusts, were attacking the Syrian region, St. Andrew began to strengthen his warriors for a valiant struggle, so that they, despite their small number, would not be afraid of the numerous Persian army, and since all his warriors worshipped idols and neither

He said, "Know the one God, the Almighty, the Almighty, the Almighty, the Almighty".

He said to them, "Brothers, do you not realize that the gods of the Gentiles are demons, and that they have no power to save or to save? There is only one true God, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He is the Almighty, quick to help those who call upon Him, and gives them strength in battle and makes their enemies flee before them.

If you reject your partners and worship Allah with me, you will find them vanishing from you as vanishing.

It's like smoke or dust.

When the saint said this, all the former soldiers with him believed his words and, calling on the help of Christ God, boldly rushed to the enemies.

A fierce battle ensued, and the soldiers of St. Andrew won a brilliant victory, for by faith and prayers of the saint, an invisible force from above came to their aid, which terrified the Persians and dismayed them, and they retreated, and the Roman army, led by

St. Andrew, pursuing them, cut off the heads of the Persians with his swords, as one cuts through a reed with a sickle.

Thus, by the power of Christ, the Romans won a glorious victory over the Persians.

When the enemies were driven out, all the soldiers who had been with St. Andrew, seeing this unexpected victory obtained through Christ, believed in Him, and St. Andrew, as far as he could, strengthened them in the faith, explaining to them the right ways leading to salvation.

When St. Andrew and his soldiers, crowned with glory, returned from the battle, they entered the city of Antioch, while some of the envious generals, jealous of St. Andrew's prowess and glory, reported to Antioch that the stratilate Andrew was worshipping the crucified God.

When the governor heard this, he was furious and sent his officers to ask him if what he had heard about him was true.

When Antiochus learned that the accusation was true, he again sent messengers to Andrew, partly with warnings, partly with threats, and reminding him of his intolerance of Christians.

You know that I betrayed Eutychus, the son of Polyxtus, and that I gave many others to the Lord. I did not spare any of them.

Those sent from Antioch came back and presented the letter to Paul.

For if those who endure hardship with him have been victorious over him and have been crowned as martyrs to God, why should I not be a faithful servant of Christ Jesus, to share in the sufferings of those who suffer for his sake?

Before me, to inherit his kingdom?

When the messengers told Antiochus of this, he was enraged and sent soldiers to bind him and bring him to him.

Sitting in the judge's seat, he ordered St. Andrew to declare publicly whether he wished to obey the king's command or to serve his God.

When the holy one stood before the judgment seat of iniquity, confessing with a loud voice in the presence of angels and men that he was the true God and that he was his servant, the tormentor immediately ordered that a copper blade be brought and severely burned, in order to burn Christ's soldiers on it.

When the bed was heated to such a point that sparks could shoot out of it, Antiochus said to the martyr: "Andrei, you have worked hard in the army, so you should rest on this bed after so much work.

The holy martyr, without waiting for the executioners to take him, immediately took off his clothes, hurriedly climbed onto the bed and, lying on it, as if on a soft bed, bravely bore the burning of his body.

Feeling pain at first, he began to pray to Christ God to send him emergency help, and indeed, by God's command, the fire immediately lost its power and could not harm the martyr's body.

At the same time Antiochus took some of Andrew's soldiers and had their hands nailed to four cross-shaped wooden posts.

<unk> If we were worthy to imitate Christ, our Lord, crucified on the cross! <unk> Afterwards, the torturer again turned to St. Andrew and asked him if he was satisfied with the punishment of burning and would not deny Christ and turn to the worship of the gods.

To this the martyr replied that he wished to endure to the end, because the end crowns every work begun; for the reward from Christ God is not the one who began his work well, but the one who finished it well.

So the torturer Antiochus ordered St. Andrew to be taken from his copper bed, and his companions to be set free from the stakes and cast into prison, as if to give them time to reflect until they agreed to appeal to the gods, but in fact to report them to the emperor, since he did not dare.

Without the latter's knowledge and consent, to betray the execution of such a brave and dignified man as Andrew and his companions.

Emperor Maximian, having received and read the report of Antiochus, found it unsafe to execute openly such a famous warrior and with him other warriors who had shown such extraordinary courage: this would not cause an uproar and rebellion in the army and a new war would not arise from them.

In response, he wrote to Antiochus, ordering the release of Andrew and his companions, freeing them from imprisonment and execution, but at the same time giving a secret order to Antiochus that when Andrew and his companions were released, he would wait a little while and skillfully find some other crime against them.

And he executed them if they persisted in being Christians, as if they were not believers, and to take from them one executioner at a time.

On receiving such an order from the emperor, Antiochus immediately released St. Andrew and his companions from chains and prisons, and ordered them to remain in their former rank.

But when Andrew, a soldier of Christ, had learned by revelation of God of this plot of the ungodly, he withdrew secretly from Antioch with all the soldiers who believed in Christ, and they were two thousand five hundred and ninety-three, and went to Tarsus of Cilicia.

The peninsula, on the Mediterranean coast, to the northeast of Syria and bordered with the latter to the east.

The city of Tarsus was the birthplace of St. Paul the Apostle.] to Peter, bishop of that city, to receive from him a holy baptism, since none of his soldiers and he himself had not yet been baptized.

And when Antiochus heard that Andrew and his company had departed for Cilicia, he was exceedingly wroth, and took counsel with his friends, and sent a letter to Seleucus, the governor of Cilicia, in which he wrote:

"We know that you have heard about Andrew, a centurion in Caesar's regiment. He has now gone mad, and not only has he disobeyed Caesar's orders, but he has also led many of his soldiers to madness.

Therefore, by order of Caesar, let Andrew and all who are with him be seized, and let them be bound and brought to us, and if they will resist or flee, let the soldiers be whipped.

When he received this letter, he immediately sent messengers throughout the regions of Cilicia, making inquiries about Andrew and the soldiers with him.

At this time, St. Andrew, seeing in the spirit that wolves were already coming to Christ's flock, asked the bishop of Tarsus, blessed Peter, and another bishop from the city of Berea, named Nono, who happened to be in Tarsus, to immediately perform holy baptism on him and his soldiers, and the bishops immediately

They baptized St. Andrew and all his company.

After receiving holy baptism, St. Andrew and his companions left Tarsus for the region called Taxanita, not because of fear of death, which, on the contrary, he greatly desired for Christ's sake, but in fulfillment of the command of his Lord, expressed in the words: "When they persecute you in one city, flee to another.

" (Matthew 10:23) How can we do this?

Shortly thereafter, Seleucus arrived in Tarsus with soldiers armed as if for war, and when he did not find Andrew and his company there, he became alarmed and even changed his face from anger, and then, filled with terrible rage, he went in pursuit of the flock of Christ.

Meanwhile, the saints from the above-mentioned place went to the borders of Armenia to the mountains called Tavros [Now Tavr <unk> a mountain range, stretching along the southern shore of the Scandinavian peninsula and then rising to the north and going to the east.

From the glaciers of Antitaurus, the famous Tigris River originates, and Seleucus pursued them everywhere, trying to catch up to them in order to kill them.

And the saints passed through the mountains, and came to a narrow place, which was surrounded on all sides with walls of steep stones, and which was entered through one way, as through the gate of the city.

Here St. Andrew stayed with his wife and waited for his killers, as this was the place God had foreseen for his martyrdom and that of his companions.

Dear friends, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.

And so we will share in the inheritance of God's people who suffer for his name.

So let us pray to Him as the first martyr Stephen prayed when the Jews were stoning him, saying, "Lord Jesus Christ, receive (Acts 7:59) the souls of your servants whom we commit into your hands".

When he had said these things to his friend, St. Andrew stood in the midst of her and, lifting up his hands and looking up to heaven, began to pray, saying: "Lord, Lord, great and all-powerful.

O Lord, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and of all those who are with me, and accept our soul from Thy mercy, and grant us a goodly abode.

And grant to them, through our prayers, that in the place where our humble blood is shed, there may be a fountain of healing and of casting out evil spirits.

And all who come here, keep them from all evil, and give them health of soul and body, that in this place thy holy name, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, may be glorified.

With their swords drawn and their teeth slashed, they attacked Christ's flock like wild beasts.

But the holy soldiers of Christ, though they were brave and experienced in battle and could have defended themselves in this narrow place with only one passage, from the hands of the murderers, but, imitating their Lord, like unfeeling lambs they gave themselves to their murderers for slaughter.

And the warriors of Seleucus, without mercy, cut them down, and in a moment they all were slain, and the blood of the saints was shed as the river that flowed from that place, and their souls entered with joy into the joy of their Lord.

The saints suffered on the 19th day of the month of August, Sunday at two o'clock in the afternoon and at the place where their martyr's blood was shed, a spring of spring and healing water immediately gushed out.

Peter of Tarsus in Cilicia and Nun of Beroea saw the slaughter of the saints, for they and their clergymen followed them from a distance, wanting to see them dead.

When Seleucus, after beating the holy martyrs, went with his soldiers back home, these bishops with their clerics came to the bodies of the martyrs and wept over them, and then, having prepared them for burial, buried them with honor in the same place.

And they saw the spring which had sprung up by the prayer of the holy martyrs, and drank of it, and knew that it was healing; for a certain clergyman, who was with the bishops, had been afflicted with an unclean spirit for a long time; and when he had drunk of the spring, the unclean spirit immediately went out from him.

After the burial of the saints, Bishop Peter did not return to Tarsus, because Seleucus was looking for him to kill him, but went with all those who were with him to Isauria.

They drank water, washed themselves, and were healed of every disease by the prayers of St. Andrew the Passionist, and the prayers of the holy martyrs who suffered with him, and by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory now and forever. Amen.

The glory of the earth is gone, and the kingdom of heaven is inherited by you, the blood-drops of which, like a precious stone, the incorruptible crowns are adorned by you, and Christ is brought to you by the Cathedral of the Passion, with the faces of angels in the twilight of the setting sun.

Our soul is afflicted with thee, save us.

In the Lord's prayers I stand as a star before the sun, and the desired treasure of the Kingdom I behold, joy unspeakable being fulfilled, to the immortal King forever and ever, from the angel to the unceasingly praised poem, Andrew Stratilate: with them also pray unceasingly for us all.

I 'm going to have to go .