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THE THE
EIGHTH
MONTH IN THE NAME
OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, On this day Saint Victor became a martyr. The name of the father of this holy man was Hermanos (Romanus), the captain of the host of the Emperor Diocletian, and his counselor; and his opinion, and his word, in respect of the worship of idols, was one with those of the Emperor Diocletian. And the name of the blessed woman, his mother, was Martha, and she was a Christian. When Saint Victor grew up, he was near the emperor, and his rank was the third in the royal palace. At that time his days were ten years. And he rejected this world, and the glory thereof. He ate no flesh, and drank no wine, he fasted continually, he prayed many prayers without ceasing by day and by night, he visited those who were in prison, and he gave alms to the poor and needy. And when they killed Saint Theodada, the mother of the Saints Cosmas and Damianus, no one dared to go near her through fear of the emperor. And Saint Victor came, and carried away her body, and buried it, and was unafraid; and he rebuked his father on several occasions for idolatry. And his father laid information against him before the emperor. When Saint Victor was brought before the emperor, he unfastened his military girdle, and threw it in the face of the emperor, saying, “Take this gift, which thou didst give me,” and he uttered blasphemies against the emperor, and against his idols. And Hermanos (Romanus) counseled the emperor, and told him to send Victor to the city of Alexandria, to the governor Herminius, so that he might torture him severely. And they brought out the holy man and set a bridle (i.e. a gag) in his mouth, and his mother bade him farewell with many tears. And he commanded his mother about the poor, and the needy, and the widows, and the orphans, telling her to visit them, and to give them what they needed. And when he arrived in Alexandria, Herminius, the governor, tortured him very severely. And the angel of the Lord appeared, and took his soul, and carried it up into heaven, and showed him the abode of the beings of light; and [then] his soul returned to his body again. And the governor inflicted further tortures upon him by means of boiling oil and pitch. After this he had him laid upon an iron bed, and had a fire lighted under him, and then he had him cast into the furnace which heated the baths [of the city]; and he inflicted upon him every kind of torture. And God strengthened him, and made him to endure, and He sent His angel unto him to heal his wounds. And after this the governor sent Saint Victor to the city, the name of which is Antoine, where he was tortured severely, and they cut out his tongue, and drove red-hot iron instruments through his sides; but God gave him strength and enabled him to endure. And after this they imprisoned him in a desert fortress, so that he might die. Now Saint Victor knew the craft of the carpenter, and he made tools and sold them; with a part of the price he fed himself sparingly, and the rest he gave to the poor and needy. And a certain governor came, and took up his abode near that fortress, and the people told him the story of Saint Victor, how that he was the son of Hermanos (Romanus), the captain of the imperial army of Antioch. And the governor had him brought to him, and he urged him greatly [to deny Christ], but he would not turn and he would not obey his behest. And the governor commanded his soldiers to torture him, and they tortured him severely. They tore out his tongue by its roots, they beat his mouth, they hung him up head downwards, and suspended heavy stones from his hands; and after this they threw him into an oven which had been made red-hot, they poured boiling pitch and oil over him, they pounded him with pounding instruments, and they made his face to smart and sting with acid and dust, and they put salt in his eyes; and after this they brought him out and hung him up head downwards. And our Lord Jesus Christ strengthened him, and enabled him to endure, and restored to him his members. And there was a certain maiden, whose days were fifteen years, and who saw Saint Victor from the window of her house whilst they were torturing him, and she also saw angels, with crowns in their hands, and they were placing them on the head of Saint Victor. And she informed the people what she had seen, and they marveled exceedingly, and many of them believed on our Lord Jesus Christ, and became martyrs. And that maiden believed on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [confessed her belief] before the governor, and he commanded his soldiers to cut off her head; [and they did so,] and she received the crown of martyrdom. After this the governor commanded them to cut off the holy head of Saint Victor with the sword, [and they did so,] and he received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of the heavens. And certain believing men took the body of the saint and wrapped it in linen and in beautiful and costly stuffs and they laid it in a pure place until Martha came from the city of Antioch, and built a beautiful church for it. And she laid his body therein, and through it great signs and wonders took place. Two-fold salutation to Victor and salutation to those who associated themselves with him in his martyrdom, and who themselves became martyrs.
Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen. |
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