St. Varlaam, Metropolitan of Moldova

Saint Metropolitan Varlaam of Moldova served in the highest ecclesiastical position of the Principate of Moldova in the period between 1632-1653 and is recognized, because of his written works, as one of the founders of the modern Romanian language.

He was born in 1590 as Vasile Moţoc, in family of free men from the Village Borceşti, near Târgu Neamţ. In his time there was still practiced the serfdom in some regions in Moldova, so that being a free man it was already a special status. 

Still young, Vasile was familiar with the monastic life, because he used to spend a lot of time in the Hermitage Zosim, a small residence of the monks in Secu valley. Here he could learn old Slavonic and Greek, the languages used in the Church and in the official documents during his time. Not far away from here, in the same time the Vornic (internal and justice minister) Nestor Ureche and his wife Mitrofana have founded a monastery named Secu in 1602, and also a school in its dependencies. Here Vasile received the tonsure as monk, being named Varlaam and even still young he was elected as egumen (abbot) of the monastery, because of his high knowledge.

At Secu, Varaam translated Leastviţa (The Ladder of St. John Climacus), this being one the first writings of the Churchfathers available in Romanian. Shortly, the Metropolitan Anastasie Crimca (1608-1629) appointed him in the rank of archimandrite and since 1628 he became an important counselor of Voivod Miron Barnovschi (1626 - 1629 and 1633). From this position he was  sent to Kiev and Moscow to purchase some icons from the monasteries Dragomirna and Bârnova  and for Barnovschi church, built by the Voivod in Iaşi, the capital of Moldova.

On his way back home in 1629, Varlaam heard about the death of Metropolitan Anastasie and the removal of Miron Barnovschi, so he retired at Secu. The short retirement ended in 1632, when during the second reign of Alexandru Iliaş (1620 - 1621 and 1631 - 1633), he was elected to follow the position of the recently dead Metropolitan Athanasie (1629-1632).

Metropolitan

Metropolitan Varlaam understood his pastoration as a big responsibility as teacher, ruler and mediator in prayers for his community, and he had the chance to have together a very pious ruler in the person of Voivod Vasile Lupu (1634 - 1653), who helped him in the action of modernization of the educational system in the country.

During his pastoration years it happened a very important event for the Orthodox Church, namely the Synod form Iaşi (1642), this being the first council of the entire Orthodox Church after the Schism. At this Synod it was debated and approved the Confession of Faith written by Petru Movilă,  Metropolitan of Kiev in 1638. This work was at its time (and even today) very important, being built as the first Orthodox Catechism since the Age of St. John Damascene (7^th century), and useful as a handbook for the Orthodox clergy and laymen confronted with the action of Calvinization and Uniatism. Probably after this Synod, Metropolitan Varlaam became very popular even abroad, that he was the only Romanian hierarch among the candidates for the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. This happened in 1639, but the elected one was Parthenios I, the former Metropolitan of Adrianopolis.

Voivod Vasile Lupu

Another important event happened in this period was the moving of the relics of St. Parascheva at Iaşi, in 1641. The Voivod Vasile Lupu helped then the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with a big amount of money, and in gratitude for the help offered, the Patriarch Parthenios offered for the Metropolis the relics of the Saint, who became very popular in Moldova until today. At that time, the relics stayed in the new monastery of the Three Hierarchs, until their moving in the new Metropolitan Cathedral, in 1889, where they can be found until today.

The church of "Trei Ierarhi" Monastery, Iaşi

The foundation at “Trei Ierarhi” Monastery

Metropolitan Varlaam together with the Voivod Vasile Lupu founded in Iaşi in 1639 a new monastery dedicated to the three Hierarchs, Basil the Great, Gregory form Nazianzen and John Chrysostomus. The church of the monastery is a masterpiece of art and architecture of the 17^th century, and one of the halls of the monastery, known today as “The Gothic Sall” was the place where the Synod reunited in 1642. Even from its foundation in 1639, the monastery hosted the first printing machine in Moldova. Here there were printed several liturgical but also apologetical books, namely Cazania, The seven Sacraments, Answer against the Calvinist Catechism and a book of religious and secular law, called Pravila.  

Cazania or Romanian Book for teaching in the Sundays all over the year, at the imperial feasts and the great saints’ days (Cazania sau Carte românească de învăţătură la duminicile de peste an, la praznice împărăteşti şi la sfinţi mari, 1643) is the first book printed in Romanian language in Moldova. Its importance consists in the fact that it was spread in all the Romanian provinces, especially in Transylvania, where the action of calvinization was very strong, imposed by the Hungarian rulers who adopted the Reform.  Another importance given by this book is the language used, which presents a step forward to the modern Romanian, after the translations realized in Transylvania by deacon Coresi, in the middle of the 16^th century. In the double preface of the book, the first written by Voivod Vasile and the second by Varlaam, there are some mentions of the national and linguistic unity between the Romanians in  Moldova, Wallachia and Transylvania. This might be one of the first signs of the national conscience among the Romanians.

In 1644 Varlaam publishes Seven Mysteries of the Church (Şapte Taine a Bisericii), another important catechetical book, written in the form of questions and answers. This systematization of the Orthodox teaching is one of the first statements about the seven Sacraments, but still not entirely original, being a compilation based of the work of Toma Teofan Eleavulkos (written in the same century).

Another important printed book for the period is a praying book, namely the Paraclis of the Theotokos (Paraclisul Maicii Domnului) a hymn similar to the western Rosarium, in 1645.

The Answer against the Calvinist Catechism (Răspunsul la catehismul Calvinesc, 1645) was probably printed in a double edition, at Iaşi in Moldova and at Dealu Monastery In Wallachia, as a joint action of Varlaam and Teofil of Wallachia (1636-1648) against the Calvinist missions. The Calvins printed a Catechism in Romanian at Alba Iulia in 1642, this being seen as an action to attract adepts among the Romanians especially from Transylvania but also from Moldova and Wallachia. Because of this possible danger, Varlaam convoked a synod of the hierarchs in Moldova and Wallachia about in 1644-1645, who approved the text of his work. The importance of the Answer of Varlaam consists in its originality and also in the quality of the language. Varlaam composed this work as a pamphlet against the teaching of Calvin, and even if full of resentments, the author tries to write into a civilized language. This book is the first apologetic Romanian work.  

The Answer against the Calvinist Catechism

Metropolitan Varlaam together with the Voivod Vasile Lupu founded in the Monastery of the Three Hierarchs also first high school in Moldova (1640) after the model of the Kievean Spiritual Academy, founded by St. Petru Movilă. The students learned here theology, Greek, Slavonic but also Romanian, together with some other matters such as, philosophy, rhetoric, poetics, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, grammar and music. The first teachers of the school were sent here by the Metropolitan of Kiev Peter Movilă, who has shown for many times the affection of his homeland. Anyway, after the abdication of Vasile Lupu, the school decays.

Secu Monastery

Retirement

Voivod Vasile Lupu lost his throne in 1653, and shortly after, the Moldavian chronicler Miron  Costin attests that Metropolitan Varlaam decided to retire to his monastery, at Secu, where he lived the last four years of his life as a simple monk in humility and prayer. The decision may be influenced also by the fact that Varlaam suffered since 1653 of a paralysis of the hands. He died on December 19, 1657 and, according his Testament, he gave all he had to the monastery at Secu. He was buried in the exterior side of the church's south wall.

The Grave of the saint at Secu Monastery

The veneration of St. Varlaam

The canonization of Metropolitan Varlaam as a saint happened after a decision of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church from February 12, 2007. The canonization ceremony happened at Secu Monastery on August 29, when his relics were exhumed and put in a silver coffin in the church of the monastery. His memorial day is August 30, in the same day of the celebration of the Saints Alexander, John and Paul the New, Patriarchs of Constantinople.

Metropolitan Teofan of Moldova
at the Relics of St. Varlaam

Troparion (Hymn) of St. Varlaam

“Worthy servant of Christ and wise defender of the true faith, great worshiper of Saint Parascheva and faithful enlightener of the Romanian people, Holy Hierarch Varlaam, pray Christ-God to protect and save our souls!”

Martyr Saints Constantin Voivod Brâncoveanu, his sons Constantin, Radu, Ştefan and Matei and the counselor Ianache Văcărescu

 Together with Voivod Ştefan III The Great of Moldova (+1504), the Romanian Church celebrate another crowned local saint, in the person of Constantin Brâncoveanu , Voivod of Wallachia (1688-1714)

Constantin was born in 1654, in Brâncoveni (Olt County), from a noble Romanian family, as the son of Matthew Brâncoveanu and Stanca, the sister of the Voivod Şerban Cantacuzino (1678-1688).  His father died in 1655 and Constantine was raised by his uncle, Constantine Cantacuzino who was postelnic (chief of the Voivodal Office) at the Court in Bucharest, being one of the most representative humanists in the medieval Romanian culture. In this way the future Voivod of Wallachia received the best education of hi stime. He was fluent in Greek, Latin and Slavonic, and probably also in Turkish.

Constantin married Maria (popularly named Marica), the granddaughter of Voivod Antonie (1669-1672), and had together four sons: Constantin, Ștefan, Radu and Matei and seven daughters: Stanca, Maria, Ilinca, Safta, Anca, Bălașa and Smaranda. Together they reached an impressive wealth consisting in houses, lands, whole villages and sums of money deposited different banks in Western Europe.

Being 34 years old, Constantin was elected as Voivod of Wallachia, after the suddenly and mysterious death of his uncle. The political situation was very difficult for the small Romanian principalities who tried to keep further their identity, during the growth of the Russian power, who came into conflict with the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Monarchy - already present in Transylvania since 1699.

The internal policy

Using a clever policy, Constantin reigned 26 years. Inside Wallachia, Constantin Brâncoveanu supported the economic and cultural progress, trying to modernize the state apparatus, reforming the tax system and increasing the Voivodal power, but the excessive taxation ruined the low class. This was not directly due his wish to be even richer, but because of the ever increasing demands of the Ottoman Porte, to whom Wallachia used to pay a tribute even since the beginning of the 15th century.

Constantin Brâncoveanu supported the development of the Romanian culture, so that his reign may be called “the Romanian Renaissance”. His „fingerprint” is considered to be the church and the buildings complex of the Monastery Horezu (or “Hurezi”), dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helen, in 1690. As a very pious Voivod, he built also a lot of other churches or monasteries, but also secular institutions after a totally new architectural style that combined the mural painting and sculpture local tradition with the neo-Byzantine style and Italian Renaissance. This combination was called the „Brâncovenesc” style, which could be considered as the first typically Romanian current for architecture and painting. 

Constantin Brâncoveanu supported also the printing activity and the schools in Wallachia, but also in Transylvania, and tried to give a more important role to the Romanian language, until then only used as a vernacular language. He surrounded himself with great personalities of culture from the country and abroad, brought especially in order to prepare the young generation after the European model.

Mogoşoaia Palace

In 1689 he brought from Istanbul a Georgian scholar and monk called Antim, later Metropolitan of Wallachia and also a saint martyred by the Turks (1716). Under his guidance, there were printed many books, especially religious, in Romanian, Greek, Slavic, and even Arabic, Turkish and Georgian, so that Wallachia became a cultural Centre for the whole Christian culture in the Eastern Europe and in the Ottoman Empire.

In 1694 the Voivod Constantin founded the Princial Academy in Bucharest, also known as the College from St. Sava, the first high school in Wallachia. The teaching language was still ancient Greek, and the teachers were usually Greeks from Istanbul. Parallel, he opened some other schools, within the monasteries in Bucharest, having as teaching language Slavonic and Romanian. He also founded some libraries such as the one in Mărgineni and Horezu monastery, purchasing many books from Western Europe.

The foreign policy

In foreign policy, Constantin Brâncoveanu  tried to maintain the balance between the Ottoman Empire, to whom he paid so much every year, and Austria, with whom he concluded a secret agreement, receiving in exchange for certain services some noble estates and titles of the Holy Roman Empire. The fragile equilibrium broke in 1709, when the third political power came in the game. King Charles XII of Sweden lost the battle with Peter the Great at Poltava. Shortly after, the powerful Russian troops entered in Moldova, in order to fight with the Sultan. In that moment, Brâncoveanu made the mistake to ally with the Russians, considering that this might be the future. So, he wrote a letter to Peter the Great, in which he promised to help him with military supplies. Peter sent to Brâncoveanu his thanks and 300 bags of gold. In the meanwhile, the Turks installed Dimitrie Cantemir, as prince in the other Romanian Principality, Moldova. He was also known as one of the highest qualified intellectuals if the whole Europe, but he happened to be an enemy of the Brâncoveanu family. The first thing Cantemir did was to ally also with the Tsar. Being a proud leader, in this situation, Brâncoveanu tried to play on both sides and helost. In waiting a confrontation between the Russian and the Ottoman troops, he gathered his army at Urlaţi, near the border with Moldova and, in case that the Russians wanted to enter in Wallachia, he planned to ally with them, but if the Turks would have been faster, he intended to remain on the Turkish side. During this time his cousin, Toma Cantacuzino fled with a part of the army to the Tsar, telling him the plans of the Voivod. Scared about the situation, Brâncoveanu sent back to Peter the Great his 300 bags of gold and supplied the Turks. The battle between the two great powers happened in Moldova, near the Prut River, at Stănileşti, in 1711, and the Russians have lost.

The end of his reign

Even since 1711, the sultan Ahmed III (1703-1730) planned to put someone else on the throne of Wallachia, because of the lack of loyalty of Brâncoveanu and because he tried to fortify his position against the Austrian Monarchy. But even if he usually did this without any problems before, Constantin was too powerful, had too many connections among the Western powers, so that the „revenge” was planned in a few years.

Horezu Monastery

In 1714 Constantin was planning the marriage of his son Radu with the daughter of Antioh Cantemir, former Voivod of Moldova (1695 – 1700; 1705 – 1707). For she was in Istanbul, Brâncoveanu tried to improve his relations with the Sultan and sent him a letter and 4000 golden coins. Even if first the Sultan communicated to him that he has nothing against this marriage, he sent Ali Pasha to Bucharest to arrest Brâncoveanu. The Voivod didn’t know that all his relatives were already against him and no one tried at least to help him. That is why, on March 25, 1714, the Turks came in Bucharest and removed Constantine from the throne of Wallachia. The reason invoked was, according to Mehmed Rashid, a contemporary Turkish chronicler, that he gathered too much wealth and weapons and prepared a rebellion against the Porte, waiting the moment to reign absolutely independently.  He was taken to Istanbul together with his family and imprisoned at the fortress of Yedikule („the Seven Towers”). Of course, all their possessions were confiscated, and he was tortured by the Turks, who hoped to locate his other possessions. His fabulous wealth became somehow legendary, and the Turks used to call him „Altin Bey” (the Prince of Gold). Finally, he was obliged under torture to sign for the gold deposited in Venice.

The Martyrdom

The execution of Constantin and his family happened on 15 August 1714, at Ialy Kisc („the kiosk at the sea”), on the day of the Dormition of Our Lady, the very day when he turned 60 years and his wife celebrating her namesday.

Sultan Ahmed III commanded a „grandiose ceremony” in order to humiliate his adversaries. Together with him were present also the ambassadors of France, England, Austria and Russia, who were invited to see his manifestation of power. Constantin was brought here not alone, but with his four sons Constantin, Radu, Ştefan and Matei and his confident Ianache Văcărescu. The sultan permitted them a last prayer and offered them one more chance to convert to Islam. The Italian chronicler Antonio Del Chiaro noted the answer of Constantine: „Your majesty, you have taken my fortune, but I don’t abandon my Christian law.  I was born and lived in it and I want to die in it (=as Christian). I filled the earth of my country with Christian churches and, now, attaining an old age, should I bow to your Turkish mosques? No, your Highness! I defended my land, I kept my faith I want to close my eyes in my faith and my sons together with me”. After that, he encouraged his sons „My children, have courage! I lost everything I had on this earthly world. We have left only our souls, we shall not lose them too, but we shall get them clean before our Savior Jesus Christ. Let’s wash our sins with our blood!”

After the beheading of Ianache Văcărescu, the executioners took the four sons. Even if Matei, the youngest protested and asked his father to let him convert to Islam, because he didn’t live his life, Constantine was radical and forbade him such a thing. His son accepted his father’s decision and finally chose to die too. He was only 11 years old. Finally Voivod Constantine was also beheaded.

The bodies of the martyrs were thrown into the waters of Bosphorus and their heads were worn in spears through the streets of Constantinople and hanged for 3 days at the gates of the Seray. Later they were also thrown into the waters o the sea. Some Christians have „fished” the bodies and buried them secretly in the Assumption Church from Halki island, during their heads were brought in Wallachia by Lady Mary in 1720 and secretly buried in the new church of St. Gheorghe from Bucharest. The tomb was covered by a white marble plate, without any name or identification. The discovery of the fact that the head of the Voivod is buried here, happened only in 1914, because of an inscription on a silver lamp until then remained unobserved: „This lamp, which was given to [the church of] St. George the New, lights where are resting the bones of the blessed Lord Voivode Io Constantin Brâncoveanu Basarab and was made by her Excellency Mrs. Maria, who hopes for the resting of her bones also here. July, 12 days, year 7228 (= 1720)” Her wish was fulfilled in 1745, when she died and was buried there.

On June 20, 1992 the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church canonized the martyrs Brâncoveanu, setting their memorial not on August 15,because of the great Feast of Our Lady, but the second day, on August 16 memorial day.

The Tomb in St. George Church, Bucharest

Troparion (hymn) of the saints

St. George Church in Bucharest
and the monument of St. Constantine

Being worthy to suffer a martyrical death for the right faith and for your people together with his sons Constantin, Ştefan, Radu, Matei and with the counselor Ianache, Oh, right-faithful Voievod Constantin, pray to Christ God to save our souls!

„Nimeni din cei ce aleargă la tine nu iese ruşinat...“

În tradiţia ortodoxă, se obişnuieşte ca orice lucrare să se înceapă numai după ce ne închinăm cu semnul Sfintei Cruci şi spunem: "Doamne, ajută!" Acest obicei străbun ţine cont de faptul că nimic din faptele noastre - chiar şi dintre cele vădit bune, de exemplu milostenia sau ajutorarea aproapelui - nu se face fără a avea în minte pe Cel Care face roditoare faptele, anume Bunul Dumnezeu. Alte dăţi, plecând de acasă, mama şi tata ne petrec la drum, urându-ne din inimă: "să-ţi ajute Dumnezeu şi Maica Domnului!", iar spunând aceasta, ştiu ce spun. Nimeni nu cunoaşte mai bine decât părinţii cât de importantă este rugăciunea mijlocitoare a Maicii Domnului. 
Paraclisul Maicii Domnului este una dintre numeroasele slujbe de rugăciune către Fecioara Maria, care se cântă sau se citeşte mai ales în momente de necaz şi în nevoi. Tocmai de aici şi numele ei, care înseamnă "mângâiere". Într-unul din imne citim: "Nimeni din cei ce aleargă la tine nu iese ruşinat, Născătoare de Dumnezeu Fecioară; ci cerând dar bun, primeşte dăruirea către cererea cea de folos". 

Articolul întreg în Ziarul Lumina, 10 august 2012

„Cu buze de tină, cântăm: Aliluia!“

Comentariu la condacul al 9-lea al Acatistului Domnului

"Toată firea îngerească, Iisuse, fără de încetare slăveşte preasfânt numele Tău în ceruri, strigând: Sfânt, Sfânt, Sfânt; iar noi păcătoşii pe pământ, cu buze de tină, cântăm: Aliluia!"

Una dintre cererile pe care le rostim zilnic în rugăciunea "Tatăl nostru" este aceea ca să se facă cele de pe pământ asemenea celor din cer. Îndeplinirea acestui lucru nu este neapărat un deziderat viitor, până acum străin. De marele praznic al Schimbării la Faţă a Domnului sărbătorim momentul minunat în care Iisus Hristos, aflat pe muntele Taborului, S-a arătat Ucenicilor în slava Sa dumnezeiască "pe cât li se putea" acestora să vadă şi să înţeleagă. Pe de o parte se aflau marii profeţi ai Vechiului Testament - Moise, cel care a primit Legea, şi Ilie, "cel ce a fost înger în trup" şi a fost urcat din timpul vieţii la ceruri -, aceştia având sfat cu Domnul întru lumina cea de nedescris, iar pe de altă parte, culcaţi la pământ şi înspăimântaţi de vederea minunată, Apostolii Petru, Ioan şi Iacov, rămaşi fără cuvinte. Într-un final, în acea stare mai presus de înţeles, Petru propunea Domnului să facă acolo trei colibe. Poate că dorea să spună astfel că nu mai vrea să se mai coboare de pe munte, înapoi la cele obişnuite. Lumea cerească şi cea pământească se uniseră pentru o vreme, prevestind împlinirea Împărăţiei lui Dumnezeu între oameni.

întregul articol în Ziarul Lumina de luni, 6 august 2012

Saints Symeon “the fool for Christ” and John the hermit

Saints Symeon, John and Parthenios,
celebrated on July 21

 The lives of the Monks John and Symeon, born in Edessa, are interesting examples of how a monk can understand his relationship with God and with the neighbors. The tradition situates the existence of the two saints at the ending of the 6th century.

The “specific” of these saints is the fact that the love for God can reach the madness, and that is literally meant. There are a lot of “fools for Christ”. Even in the Desert of Egypt, at the end of the 4^th century there is reported a saint nun called Isidora in a monastery near Tabenna, who “faked” madness in order to humble herself. The modern world knows better the popular Vassili Blazhennyi, the patron saint of the beautiful cathedral in the centre of Moscow. This saint was mocking the terrible Tsar Ivan IV of Russia without being harmed. But the “classic” fool for Christ, the one who despised his human honor in order to save other Christians, is St. Symeon, usually associated with his friend, John the hermit.

Although there are many „lives” of these saints, written shortly after their death, the most comprising biographical source is The life and behavior of Symeon the one called crazy for Christ, written by the very pious bishop Leontios of Neapolis in island of Cyprus. Leontios wrote about in 641 a Life of St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria and the scholars believe that he has written the Life of Symeon later, but not after 649, when an Arab invasion occurred in Cyprus.

The work of Leontios combines a classical biography of a monk with a collection of anecdotes, similar to the ones from the older story regarding the life of the Greek philosopher Diogenes, also known for his “foolish” or at least surprising sayings.

Bishop Leontios,
the author of the saint's biography

The young Symeon and his friend John

Even from the beginning of the biography, Leontios  try to explain to his readers how a life of a „fool for Christ” may be an exemplary life for a Christian, making an allusion of the Pauline understanding of the Christian mission (1 Corinthians 4,10). Only after this argumentation, he starts speaking about the young Symeon from Edessa (Syria), who went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem together with his friend John. Along the way, passing near the monastery of Saint Gerasimos, they decide to stay there for a while, listening to teachings of abba Nikon. Soon after, they decide to become monks, but after only one week, they leave the convent and start a life in the wilderness of the desert, with the consent of the abbot, who had a vision and understood their special situation.

In the desert lands somewhere Jerusalem, „because of devilish temptations”, the two feel certain sadness to those left behind: Symeon had left home his old mother who was widow and had no other children, and John even more scandalous, left home in Edessa his young wife. Strangely the two pray God to take those women to Him. This happens after a while, and the two monks continue their solitary life for another 29 years. Here Leontios ends the first part of his story, which presents a classic biography of holy hermits.

The foolishness for Christ

The second part of this story consists in 39 “anecdotes”. After a long period of working on their own “angelic life”, Symeon suggested  one day to John that they should go together in the world, in order to save other souls, citing the example of 1 Corinthians 10,24, “each shall think not only about himself but also for the other”. But John, being afraid to return to the world, tries to persuade Symeon about the danger of living in the city. Finally, realizing that his friend is strengthened by God, he agrees with Symeon’s decision, though John remains further into the wilderness, feeling himself still not strong enough in his faith.

Shortly after, Symeon went first to Jerusalem, where he remained for three days, then went to Emessa, an important city not far away from Antioch. In a so-called “Christian city”, he starts life acting as a crazy, entering the town carrying a corpse of a dog, tied to a rope he used as a belt for the ascetic clothing. Even the “innocent” kids, running after him, make a big fuss, beat him and call him salos, which means, “crazy”.

The next day being a Sunday, Symeon goes to the church and starts provoking the pious Christians gathered at worship, throwing with nuts to them and quenching the candles. He is thrown away quickly and beaten again, this time by the adults. Symeon is saying to himself, that if he continues like that, he will be dead in a week. But he doesn’t stop. Further, a trader hires him to sell vegetables in the market. Symeon is acting strangely, eating beans and provoking a pestilential smell around. Instead of selling, he gives all the products to the poor and the passersby, he even spreads the money and for these things, of course, he is beaten again and chased. Other time he starts to undress himself on the road and enters naked in the public bath reserved to the women, defying decency. Meanwhile he does miracles or prophecies and casts away a devil from a young who committed adultery. He predicts an earthquake playing strangely: by beating with a stick some columns of the school-building, saying “you will fall”, and to others: “you will stay”. Moreover, he kisses the kids coming from the school: not all of them, but the ones who will die shortly because of the plague. Symeon makes secretly acts of charity and refuse any form of self-glory, making mute those who recognize the truth.

In order not to scandalize his readers too much, the biographer is combining the foolish stories with the miracles and mentions the fact that the foolishness of Symeon was just a fake. In reality, the saint acted like that in order to shock the ones too conformist, and to show them that their piety is just a fake piety and the profound Christian sense is far away to be realized. Some other times, after a miracle or a healing, Symeon makes quickly something so stupid, so that the seers don’t realize the truth and look upon him further as to a lunatic and not as to a saint.

Symeon is not only a wondermaker and a saint disguised in a harlequin, but also a fighter for the faith. Two monks from a monastery near Emessa, who wanted to settle a theological dispute, go into the wilderness to find John and Symeon. They reach John who guides them to the city, to Symeon, but he explains the orthodox position against the origenist one in a clever way, hitting and insulting one of them. Later he dances with the prostitutes, showing that he is passionless. He even gives money to some of them, trying to persuade them to abandon their practices. He often called the prostitutes his “girlfriends”, provoking the indignation to the townspeople.

Under the guise of his insanity,  he stops people on the street, slaps some of them, throws with stones to them, insults the religious precepts (e.g., the fasting times), all in order to save the souls of the neighbor, without being glorified by the others. After he miraculously saves the deacon John, who was almost killed because of some false accusations of murder, this deacon becomes his only confidant, the only one who knows the wisdom hidden under the mask of foolishness.

Symeon later finds the money stolen by some thieves, heals some possessed, discovers the lies of some perjurers, and deprives a woman of her witchcraft power. In order to include in the stories also the others “unbelievers”, Leontios mentions also the Jew who was the glazier of the town. Symeon goes to him and starts to break his bottles by word. Finally, he tells to this Jew that all bottles made will break, until it decides to Christianize. That, of course, happens.

The days of Symeon in the city of Emessa are’t too many. His way of living, on the streets, with the prostitutes and the homeless surely made him sick. Anyway, while living on the streets during the days, he spent the nights in his hut, which was rather a bundle of sticks, situated in the garbage zone of the town, praying incessantly with tears. In his last days he rarely speaks with the deacon John but finally he tells his whole life, just before he dies.

Feeling his end near, Symeon remains hidden in his hut, where he dies in his sleep. The poor people (who were checking through the garbage) find him and remember about the “fool of the town”. They take and bury him in the cemetery for foreigners, without ceremony. But along the way, passing by the house of the converted Jew, this hears the voices of angels singing hymns of praise for Symeon’s funeral. The deacon John knows very late about what happened and go to the cemetery, trying to make a decent funeral sermon for Symeon, but when his hired men dig for the body, they find the tomb empty: God have taken him. This is a topos presented in many lives of the saints “fools for Christ”, but not only. We may compare it with the story about the funeral of Our Lady Mother of Our Lord.

At the end of the biography, Leontios concludes by stating that these mentioned were just some of the works of Symeon, who lived like an unknown. His life was told to him only by chance by John, the deacon from Emessa. Leontios urges his readers to take the example of Symeon and stop judging the neighbor, because the real deeds are known only by God.

Saint Symeon is celebrated in the calendar of the Western Church on July 1, during the Eastern Church marked his feast on July 21 (August 3 according to the Old Calendar), the day of his death. He is jointly celebrated with John, his friend who remained in the wilderness of the desert.

The deeds of Symeon, according to other sources

The way how Leontios explains the lifestyle of Symeon differ from the interpretations of this biography during the centuries. The later paraphrases, the short hagiographies, but especially the texts for the liturgical services have “soften” the language about the “madness” of Symeon. In an anonymous Byzantine Menologion from the 10^th century, the compiler reduces the life of Symeon about to one sixth of the original, especially for practical reasons. There is renounced especially to some formulas of Leontios who appear to be too colloquial. The second part of the life of the saint is merely a listing of the wonders. The omissions of that paraphrase are instructive: explicitly scandalous episodes are not mentioned, such as Symeons defecation in public, or his tangle with prostitutes. Instead of this, the compiler simply says that Symeon has converted many prostitutes. The Armenian text renounces also to some of these episodes.

The later compilers have a tendency to “theologize” and “moralize” the text. There is known that the liturgical texts were made for the daily service in the church, so their moralizing content was very important. A saint having a scandalous life could hardly be honored in the official calendar.

The Synaxarion of Constantinople, also from the 10^th century, covers the lives of Symeon”tou dia Hriston salou” and his friend John to only 47 lines, and that is how they appear in the modern menologies, such as the Romanian, in use today.  Focusing on how the martyrs and saints died, the author states only that Symeon pretended to be crazy, and mentions that the truth about his life came miraculously to light only after his death.

It is difficult to say that the Byzantine liturgists would be truncated only the life of Symeon. Rather we might say that the text has been reduced so much for practical reasons and only secondly for moral purposes. But whatever it may be, these later texts miss the lack of shame of Symeon and the shock capability of the story.

The author of the later life of Andrew Salos, the most popular Greek “fool for Christ”, who lived in 10^th century in Constantinople, borrows many elements from the biography written by Leontios. Later, the Russian biographers of the new saints “fools for Christ” (called here jurodivyi, that meaning “aborted fetus”) make use of the biography of St. Symeon too.

Hymn (troparion) of St. Symeon

“Having heard the voice of Your Apostle Paul: “We are fools for Christ's sake!”, your servant Symeon, O Christ God, lived the life of a fool here on earth for Your sake. Therefore as we venerate his memory, we entreat You, O Lord, to save our souls!”

Another hymn (kontakion) of both Sts. Symeon and John

“Let us praise with fervent love, this man who lived in the flesh as an angel, adorning his soul with the most radiant virtues! Symeon, the equal to the Apostles and the Bearer of God. Together with him, let us honor his companion John, for they both ever stand before God, interceding for us all!”

Saint Vladimir the Great, Knjaz of Kyiv

  

Saint Vladimir (in Ukrainian -Volodymyr, Old Norse - Valdamarr),  called often also as Svyatoslavich, after his father, is traditionally known as „the Baptizer of Kyivan- Rus”.  As Grand Prince of Kyiv (958-1015) he introduced the Orthodoxy in his land.
Vladimir was born around 958, near Pskov, being the son of Prince Svyatoslav, the grandson of St. Olga, and the father of Sts. Boris and Gleb „the Passion-Bearers”. His name, of Slavic origin, is composed from the elements wlodi - „rule” and mir – „peace”.
After the Slavic tradition, transferring his capital to Pereyaslav in 969, Svyatoslav designated Vladimir as ruler of Novgorod, Yaropolk in Kyiv and Oleg as the ruler over the Drevlians („people of the trees”, that means, of the woods western of Kyiv).But after Svyatoslav's death (972), it has started in 976 a fratricidal war between Yaropolk and Oleg, who was killed shortly after. In order not to be also killed, in 977 Vladimir was forced to flee to his relative Ladejarl Håkon Sigurdsson, the ruler of Norway. Here he assembled a Varangian army and reconquered Novgorod. Shortly after, Yaropolk was killed by two Varangians and Vladimir became the knjaz of both Novgorod and Kyiv. Over the next 35 years Vladimir expanded the borders of Kyivan-Rus and turned it into a powerful state in Eastern Europe. 

The Kingdom during the reign of Vladimir

Even if he was educated as a child by his grandmother Olga, it seems that he was still a devout pagan in his early life and erected many statues of the old Slavic gods in the lands that he ruled over. He had five wives, being father of eleven princes, the most known being Svyatopolk I, Yaroslav the Wise, Mstyslav and Saints Borys and Gleb.
At the time being knjaz, he received at his court numerous religious messengers, proposing him to adopt their faith. According to the Primary Chronicle, in 987, after a consultation with his boyars, Vladimir decided to send envoys in order to research the religious life of the neighboring. In the Chronicle of Nestor there is an interesting reference about this fact. Meeting the Muslims, the envoys felt that there was no joy among them, and especially their taboo against alcoholic beverages and pork determined Vladimir to say that drinking is the joy of all Russians and they cannot exist without that. The envoys also met with Jews and Catholics, but were still unimpressed.
Going in Constantinople and attending the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, the envoys of Vladimir said that they didn’t know any longer whether they were in heaven or on earth. So, in December 987, Prince Vladimir was baptized on the shores of the Black Sea, probably in Kherson, receiving the name of Vasily (Basil), after the emperor Basil II of Constantinople also known as the “Bulgarian Slayer”. Shortly after, he took as wife Anna, the emperor’s daughter, and they went back to Kyiv. Together with him came some Greek priests who baptized the inhabitants of the capital, on August 1, 988. This day is officially known as the date of the Christianization of the Russians. The population of Rus was anyway slowly converted, and sometimes by force, during the centuries. Anyway, some Arab sources (Yahya of Antioch, al-Rudhrawari, al-Makin, Al-Dimashqi, and ibn al-Athir) present a different story of Vladimir's conversion. Emperor Basil II of Constantinople found himself in difficulty 987, after a revolt of Bardas Skleros and Bardas Phokas. Basil asked for the help of the Kyivan Rus, until then an enemy, and Vladimir agreed, in exchange for a marital tie. He also accepted to become a Christian and to convert his people to the new faith. After the baptism, 988 Vladimir sent 6000 of warriors and besieged the strategic city of Chersones Taurica in 989, taking it from Bardas Phocas, and giving it back to Basil.

The Baptism of St. Vladimir

The conversion of Vladimir was an act of politics, but even so, there was not a superficial change of faith. Vladimir changed his life and destroyed the pagan statues in Kyivan Rus, replacing them with churches. He also attempted to live in peace as much as possible with his neighbors and had since then only one wife. He also took a serious care for the poor, that being unusual at that time among his people, and tried to spread the Christianity beyond his borders. The Primary Chronicle says that “He ordered the all poor and sick to come at his palace for food, drink and money. And for the ones unable to come, he filled some carriages with bread, flesh, fish and honey and sent them in the city”. In his capital Kyiv, he built the Church of the Tithes in the honor of the Dormition of Our Lady (989) and helped to the construction of some monasteries on Mt. Athos. After Anna's death in 1011, Vladimir married a German princess, the daughter of Count Kuno von Enningen.

In the last year of his life, his sons Svyatopolk established in Turov and Yaroslav the Wise who ruled in Novgorod challenged his rule. After defeating Svyatopolk, Vladimir fell ill, most likely of old age and died at Berestovo, near Kyiv on July 15, 1015 and he was buried in the Church of the Tithes. He was succeeded by Svyatopolk. 

The Veneration of St. Vladimir

Vladimir on the Millenium
of Christianization Monument in Kyiv

The Rus clergy venerated Vladimir because of his support of the church, but he was canonized much later. The oldest extant mention of him as Saint Vladimir is found in the Hypatian Chronicle under the year 1254, and his feast day July 15, (July 28, according to the Old Calendar) was first celebrated in 1263. In 1635 there is a mention, according to which it appeared that his body has not decomposed. The various parts of his dismembered body were distributed among his numerous sacred foundations and were venerated as relics.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, St. Vladimir is referred to, like his grandmother Olga as a holy “equal to the Apostles” and grand prince of Kyiv. His cult is widespread in Russia, Ukraine and other Slavic countries, being considered the patron saint of the blind and diseased eyes. In the iconography of the saint is depicted in red royal robes, interspersed with gold designs, with a crown on his head. In his right hand he is holding a cross (on some icons assuming the relatively large size), and in the left he bears a sword. Sometimes it is presented with the scroll in his hand, containing a prayer for the newly baptized people.

Troparion (Hymn) of St. Vladimir

Holy Prince Vladimir, you were like a merchant in search of fine pearls. By sending servants to Constantinople for the Orthodox Faith, you found Christ, the priceless pearl. He appointed you to be another Paul, washing away in baptism your physical and spiritual blindness. We celebrate your memory, asking you to pray for all Orthodox Christians and for us, your spiritual children!

St Vladimir and his nephews,
Martyrs Boris and Gleb

Saint Olga of Kyiv

Saint Olga, Grand Duchess (knjagina) of Kyivan-Rus, is one of the most popular local saints in the Eastern Europe, usually called as “equal to the Apostles” because of her mission of Christianization realized during her times.

Olga was born about 890. According to the Russian Primary Chronicles, she came from Pskov, but the church sources names a village in Wybutska near Pskov as her origin. Probably she was of Varangian origin (Nordic population from the same family of languages with the Vikings), established in the northern regions of the actual Russia.  By some accounts, she was the daughter of Oleg of Novgorod. Her name is Olga has probably Scandinavian origins, deriving from Helga, an Old Norse word from the root heill, meaning “enjoying prosperity”, or “being happy”.

According to some other hypotheses, Olga was born in Pliska, Bulgaria, her father being the knjaz Vladimir of Bulgaria. This hypothesis goes from the fact that her first grandson was named Vladimir, after her father, respectively one of his sons Boris, after her grand-grandfather, Boris, the Christianizer of the Bulgarians. Anyway no other source attests these suppositions.

At the age of about 20, that is, around 903 B.C., she married Prince Igor I, the son of Rurik, the traditional founder of Russia. Prince Igor succeeded his father as the ruler of Kyiv about 912. In this time, Olga gave him a son called Svyatoslav, the father of St. Vladimir. 

Igor was murdered while collecting tribute from the Drevlians in 945. At that time, their son Svyatoslav, was only three years old, and Olga became the official ruler of Kyivan-Rus until her son reached adulthood, that is about 945–c. 963. As a widow, she used to have many problems with the neighbor Drevlians, a nation living in the woods from the region situated at the West of Kyiv. Their name, meaning “people of the trees”, suggest their way of living. 

Olga depicted in a manuscript of the Primary Chronicles -
Killing the Drevlyans by burning in the Bathhouse

Olga is remembered in the Primary Chronicles for her revenge against these people who murdered her husband. Shortly after killing Igor, the Drevlians sent twenty of their best men to convince Olga to marry their prince Mal and give up her rule of Kyivan Rus. After tricking them, she ordered her servants to bury them alive. Then she sent a letter to prince Mal, that she accepts the proposal, but she requires other envoys, namely their most distinguished men, as for her noble position. The prince sent his best men who helped him governing the land, but Olga prepared for them a bathhouse, burning them alive inside it. After that, she planned to destroy the remaining Drevlians, by inviting them to a funeral feast at her husband's grave. After the Drevlians became drunk, Olga's soldiers killed over 5000 of them. The ones still alive begged for mercy and offered to pay for their freedom, but she asked only for three pigeons and three sparrows from each house, since she did not want to burden the villagers any further after the loss they suffered. Then Olga gave to her soldiers the pigeons and the sparrows, ordering them to attach by the feet of the birds pieces small pieces of cloth soaked in sulphur and to release them. The birds flew to their nests and set on fire all the houses. The people fled were captured or killed, while some others she gave as slaves to her followers. The remnant left paid her tribute.

Olga remained regent ruler of Kyivan-Rus with the support of the army and her people. She changed the system of gathering tribute (poliudie) in the first legal reform recorded in Eastern Europe. In the following she continued to refuse different proposals of marriage, and managed to save the power of the throne for her son Svyatoslav, major in 963 or 964.

Christianization of Olga

There is uncertain when Olga became interested in Christianity, but it is possible that her interest may have started before her visit to Constantinople, happened, after different sources, sometime between 954 and 957. The ceremonies of her formal reception in the capital of the Byzantine Empire are described by the emperor Constantine VII in his book De Ceremoniis. The Slavonic chronicles add apocryphal details to the account of her baptism, such as the story how she charmed and "outwitted" the widower Constantine, who proposed her to marry.  Olga agreed to be baptized first, because only as Christian she could marry a Christian emperor. After that, she asked the emperor to be her godfather. After the Patriarch Polyeuct had instructed her in the faith, she was baptized with the name Helena, but not after St. Helena the Empress, as believed. The wife of Constantine, in reality dead only in 961, was named Helena Lekapena, being probably her godmother. But traditionally, after the baptism, Constantine requested once more her hand. Instead, Olga tricked him saying that she is his daughter in baptism and such a union is forbidden under Christian law. Even if Constantine commented to Olga about her trickery, he offered her many gifts and let her to return to Kyiv. In truth, this marriage affair is quite impossible to be real, because at the time of her baptism, Olga was an old woman, while Constantine had a wife, being widower only a few years later.

The Baptism of Olga in Constantinople -
depiction in the Radzwill Chronicle

Back in Kyiv, Olga instructed her son Svyatoslav and entreated him to be baptized. However, she failed to convert him, because he was more interested into the domestic fights and tribal wars, but this situation left into her care Vladimir, the presumable successor to the throne who later adopted Christianity as a state religion. Anyway, while Svyatoslav was not brought to baptism, he would not forbid others.

In the latest years of her life, Olga constructed two churches, namely the wooden church of St. Sophia (Wisdom of God) in Kyiv and the Holy Trinity church in Pskov.

In 968, while Svyatoslav was in a campaign of war against the Bulgarians, the Pechenegs surrounded Kyiv in a siege. At the moment, Olga was living into the city taking care for her grandsons Yaropolk, Oleg, and Vladimir. As the people became weaker with hunger and lack of water, Olga inspired a lad to escape the siege and bring relief. Svyatoslav came back in hurry and found his mother very sick. His intentions were to move his residence to Pereyaslav (which is on the Danube River), leaving Olga in Kyiv, but she restrained Svyatoslav from leaving until after she had died.

Saint Olga died on July 11, 969 and she was buried by a priest, having ordered that there would not be a funeral feast after the heathen Slavic customs. Presbyter Gregory, who was with her at Constantinople in 957, fulfilled her request. The Russian Synaxarion calculates that she was 20 years old at her marriage, and the next 42 years she was the wife of Igor. Then she reigned 10 years before her Baptism and after that she lived 15 years more. So she died about 90 years old.

Saint Olga on the Monument of the
Millenium from the Christianization, Kyiv

Her Relics

While Olga was not successful in converting her son or many others to the Christian faith, her example may have been a great influence on her grandson, Vladimir, who in 988 became an Orthodox Christian and led the inhabitants of Kyiv and Rus to follow him in Baptism. During his reign, prince (knjaz) Vladimir was discovered that the body of Olga has not decomposed, traditionally in 1007. This was the first case in relieving relics in the Slavic Christianity. Her body was placed in a coffin inside the Church of St. Sophia (Wisdom of God) in Kyiv. Anyway, only in 1574, the Russian Orthodox Church officially canonized Olga as a saint. Even if her grand-grandsons Boris and Gleb are the first officially recognized saints in Russia, Olga remains the first saint of her people, celebrated on July 11, that being according to the Old Calendar, July24.

During the Tartar invasions in the next centuries, the sacred relics of Olga became a source of numerous miraculous healings. At the beginning of the 18th century, the coffin was hidden in an undisclosed location and has not yet been found. In 1939, an expedition lead by the Leningrad scientist Mikhail Karger discovered some hidden recesses in the foundations of the Tithe Church in Kyiv. Within these recesses lay the remains of people, including a female skeleton with golden ornaments, so that the archaeologists inclined to believe that these were the relics of St. Olga. Anyway that was not officially confirmed until today.

Veneration of St. Olga

Because of her proselytizing influence, the Orthodox Church calls St. Olga like her grandson Vladimir by the honorific title of eissapóstolos, "Equal to the Apostles", such as St. Helena and Emperor Constantine in the Byzantine Empire. Through this title there is recognized the importance of her role to the Christianization of the Russians, process which happened only during a few centuries. The cult of St. Olga is widespread, although especially vivid in the Russian Orthodox Church. The icons present St. Olga as a mature woman, dressed in red and golden robes and bearing a princely crown. From the crown to the shoulders it drops a white scarf. Popularly she bears a cross in his right hand, but in other depictions she may not have a cross, instead her hands are prayerfully made on the chest.

Troparion (Hymn) of St. Olga

Giving your mind the wings of divine understanding, you soared above visible creation seeking God the Creator of all. When you had found Him, you received rebirth through baptism. As one who enjoys the Tree of Life, You remain eternally incorrupt, ever-glorious Olga!

Saints Epictetus and Astion from Halmyris

 Saint Epictetus, priest, and Saint Astion, (improperly said) monk, originals from Asia Minor, were martyrs for Christ in the 3rd century in Scytia Minor (the today Romanian region Dobruja, situated between Danube and the Black Sea). They were originary from Little Asia. Information about their lives is known only from a copy of a 15th century manuscript kept in the archive of the Savior Church in Utrecht,  published in 1615 by the Jesuit monk Herbert Rosweyde, the initiator of the hagiographic collections Acta Sanctorum, under the title “SS. Epicteto presbytero et Astion monacho, martirybus Almiridiensibus in Scythia “.


The Martyrdom of Sts. Epictetus and Astion
Epictetus was a zealous believer born of Christian parents. Since his youth he left his home for an ascetical life, somewhere in the desert lands of Phrygia (Asia Minor), being later ordained as priest. From this position, he started to preach the Gospel among the pagans in the region, baptizing some of them and working healing wonders in the name of the Savior. Astion was one of his spiritual sons, who came from the family of a Roman senator named Julian. Following his Baptism, Astion started an ascetical life similar to one of a monk.
Around 290, the two came in the province of Scythia Minor, in order to preach the Gospel in this region situated at the borders of the empire. They arrived in a city named Halmyris, situated on a hill near the Danube Delta.  Settling here, they started an ascetical life in the service of God. Further both of them made some wonders, especially exorcisms.
Epictet and Astion became quickly famous in the town. In one day, the commander of the Roman troops stationed there, named Latronianus, came in town with some administrative and military business and heard about them, as they would be wizards practicing a strange rite, and that through their speeches many citizens were converted to the new religion. So he commanded the imprisonment of the two until the sunset and forced them in various ways to deny their faith in Christ. At the time, Epictetus was about 60 years and and Astion was 35. Latronianus wanted to give his best to be observed by the emperor Diocletian, who haven’t started yet his persecution. During the torture, the saints didn’t abjure their faith, but they decided not to say a word about their families in the homeland, in order not to put them in danger. Anyway they confessed repeatedly that they are Christians, and that “this is their name, their ancestry and their homeland”.

The 3rd chapter of the martyrical act describes the last 35 days in the life of the two martyrs, from the arrest up to their execution.  In the next day after their imprisonment, the two were brought in the middle of the court, but their faces were shining like the sun, so that Latronianus could barely look at them. During the hearing, the two saints confessed once more their faith in Jesus Christ, the “source” of their mysterious power and they denied any possible return to the old pagan faith.   Latronianus of course got angry and ordered that the two saints to be bound, and their bodies to be peeled off with iron claws.

Among the judges was Vigilantius, a very sensible man. After four days of process, hearing the Saints incessantly repeating that they are Christians, he decided to become also himself a Christian. So, after the process session, he went in the prison to Epictetus and Astion, where he received from the saints the sign of the eternal live (probably that means he was baptized) and became disciple of the Lord. 

On the fifth day of the process, Epictetus kept a longer speech which ended with the words “We are Christians”, which angered extremely Latronianus, who commanded that the wounds of the saints to be rubbed with salt and vinegar. After this, as if it was not enough pain, they were thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch. However, through their faith Christ, the two saints remained unharmed, and after that they were thrown in the cell, having no food or drink for 30 days.
After passing the 30 days of starvation, the two saints were brought back to court, where they confessed Christ once more, saying that their miracles were no witchcraft, but power given by their Lord.  "Hearing this, that crazy with a beast soul ordered his servants to crush with stones the faces of martyrs. He asked also to bring some ash rods and to hit them until giving their souls […] but because as many blows they endured, they received them always happy and fully hearted in confessing their Lord, then the servant of the devil, seeing that his madness cannot in any way overcome their constancy, he commanded the servants to take them out of the city and to cut their heads with the sword”.

The first beheaded was St. Astion. In that moment, Epictetus have thrown himself upon the body of his disciple and asked the executioners to kill him so. Their martyrdom happened on 8 July 290. The new converted Vigilantius, together with other Christians, managed to take the bodies of the two holy martyrs at the sunset and buried them with great honor. In the act of martyrdom of these Holy Martyrs there is a mention that the two beheaded bodies were white like the snow and through them some sick people were cured. 

During the tortures of the two saints, a citizen from Astion’s hometown came in Halmyris and recognized the martyr. Returning home, he told everything to the parents of the martyr, who didn’t know anything about his fate before. His mother said that she wanted it immediately to become Christian and if necessary, to become a martyr like her son, and then both parents of Astion embarked on a ship and came to Halmyris to see their son.  On the third day after the funeral, Vigilantius had a vision. Astion appeared to him, telling about the arrival of his parents in the city. So he welcomed them and told them about the martyrical death of their son, and after this, the both converted to Christianity and were baptized by the bishop Evangelicus of Tomis, who also suffered a martyrical death shortly after. 

Saints Epictetus and Astion are the earliest martyrs in Romania today, about whom there is detailed written information.

The crypt where the relics were found

The veneration of the Saints

The relics of the two saints remained unknown for a very long time, and they were discovered only in 2001, during some excavations made at the archaeological site of ancient Roman-Byzantine city Halmyris, located between Murighiol and Dunava, in Tulcea County. The archaeological site was opened in 1981, but only in 2000 a Romanian-American team discovered an Episcopal basilica, confirming a “Notitiae episcopatum” during the basileus Anastasios I (491-518) of Constantinople, who mentioned 14 bishoprics in Scythia Minor, and among them also Halmyris. The discovery of the crypt where the relics of the two martyrs laid happened on August 15, in the day of the Dormition of Our Lady.

The crypt had two chambers, the first being the funeral room where there were found the remains of two Christian martyrs, of a yellow-brown color. In the second room, probably plundered already in the Antique, there were found the white bones of some other persons, remained unknown. The different color of the bones confirms that they weren’t mixed in that period, and this fact may be a sign of their earlier veneration.

The skeletons of the two martyrs

Together with the remains of two martyrs, there were found some fragmentary inscriptions on the chamber’s eastern wall. On the first two rows from the whole seven it have been decoded the Greek words “Martyrs of Christ”, and on the fifth, the word “Asto” finished with the Greek letter “v”, which Latin correspondent is “n”. In the seventh raw there were identified the first three letters of the verb “ibrio”, meaning “to molest, hit”. These indices led the archaeologist Michael Zahariade to believe that he found the relics of Epictetus and Astion, whose lives and sufferings are recounted in "Acta sanctorum". The anthropological expertise have shown even the health situation of the two saints, and offered information about the last 35 days of their lives.

The first skeleton found was the one of Epictetus, from which it was missing only the first two cervical vertebrae (atlas and axis) and the skull, but having the mandible.  The research confirmed the skeleton of a man of 64-67 years, suffering of from reactive arthritis, extensive ankylosis of the spine and osteoarthrosis. The mandible and the shoulder blades presented some fractures made directly on the bone, by hitting with blunt objects on the shoulder and face. Because there were no signs of bone regeneration, there is believed that he died shortly after.

From the skeleton of Astion it was missing also the skull, but the mandible was present.  The age indicators have shown an age of 49 years, because of the form of the pubic symphysis, but the experts had reasons to believe an age at death of about 30-40 years. Probably he suffered an accident in his childhood and he presented a small hump. On his skeleton there were discovered some violence traces: the right humerus had a trace caused by a sharp object. Another trace was discovered on the left fibula that was completely fractured.  Also the mandible was fractured as if after some very strong blows, and the lack of any signs of bone repair shows that the person died shortly after. Moreover, the first atlas vertebra proves that the death was caused by beheading. All these information confirm the describing from the Acta Sanctorum.

traces of sword on a bone (humerus) of St. Astion

The holy relics of Sts. Epictetus and Astion were placed in two coffins in the cathedral church of the Archbishopric of Tomis, in Constanţa. Some small parts were offered by the current Archbishop Teodosie also to some other churches in Romania but not only.

Another martyr saints in Scythia Minor (Dobruja)

St. Epictetus and Astion are not the only martyrs in Dobruja during the reign of the last persecutors. Together with them, there are known also St. Emilianus, soldier in Durostorum, who died in the time of Julian (361-363) and celebrated on 18^th July, and the Martyrs from Niculiţel, Sts. Zottikos, Attalos, Kamassis and Philippos, mentioned in a Syrian Martyrology on 4^th June, whose relics were discovered in 1971.  A crypt with relics of saints was found also in Adamclisi, but the identity of the martyrs is still unknown.

Besides these  there are some other martyr groups: some from Tomis (now, Constanţa): Macrobius, Gordian, Elia and Valerian (September 13), Marcial, Victurus, Marina and Servulus (September 15),  Priscus, Crescens, Evagrius, Denegothia, Faust, Marcial, Ianuarius, Alexander, Euprobus, Pigra, Dignus, Gottia, Sarurnus, Speus, Castus, Primus, Donatus, Passicus, Probus, Digna, Christus (October 1), Argeus, Narcis and Marcellin, three brothers and sons of a bishop of Tomis (January 2), Claudius, Eugenius, Rodon, Diogenes, Prima, bishop Filius, Theogenes, and  Petrus (January 3), bishops Efremus of Tomis and Eterius (march 7), Chrestus, Pappus, Tomas, Evagrius, Benignus, Arestus, Rufus, Sinidia, Patricius (April 3), Marcian, Nicandrus, Apollonius (June 5), Paulus and Cyriacus (June 18).

From Axiopolis  (Cernavodă) there are known the martyrs Cyril and Kindeas (March 9), Zenon, Dio, Acacius and Crispus (May 9), Irenaios and Heraclius(August 5). St. Cyril had a cult developed in Axiopolis. On his tomb there was built a basilica and later here it has beeb developed a large Christian cemetery. According to Procopius of Caesarea, in the 6h century, during the reign of Justinian, Axiopolis was renamed after Cyril. In 1947 there was discovered an inscription saying: “(to the Martyrs) Cyril, Tasios and Kindeas I bring praise”.

At Noviodunum (Isaccea) not far away from Niculitel, there are celebrated Sts. Amantus, Lucius, Alexander, Andrea, Donatus and Peregrinus (June 6) and another group, of Cirinus, Ebustus, Rusticus, Silvius.

The so many names here mentioned bring an idea about the development of the Christianity in this region, situated at the border of the Roman Empire, but also about the strength of the persecutions, especially during the reign of Diocletian and Licinius.

Troparion (Hymn) of the saints

Oh, faithful believers, come to praise Epictetus, the wise teacher and Astion, the very zealous disciple with the the same praise as Hermolaes and Panteleimon , as  the martyrs of Christ and the praise of Dobruja,  saying to them: enjoy, you who always intercedes for our souls! 

Here some infomations and photos:

http://hristos-imparatul-slavei.blogspot.de/2011/07/sfintii-marii-mucenici-si-doctori-fara.html

and here:

http://cidadededeus.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/sf-mucenici-epictet-si-astion-8-iulie/