The Hieromartyrs constitute a special order in the canon of our Church. They are the priests who were subjected to torture and martyred for Christ. One of them is the holy Hieromartyr Eleftherios.
He was born in Rome in 2ο AD century by noble parents. His father held the office of consul. His mother was named Anthia. She had met disciples of the apostle Paul and became a fervent Christian. After the death of her husband, she took on the upbringing of the little Eleftherios, to whom she gave a great education and catechized him in Christianity. She even took care to connect him with the bishop of Rome Anicitus (155-166), so that he could also acquire a Christian education and upbringing. The bishop saw in the noble teenager Eleftherios deep faith, piety and devotion to the Church and for this reason he ordained him a deacon at the age of 15. A little later, at the age of 17, he ordained him a presbyter and three years later he ordained him a bishop and assigned him the episcopal throne of Illyricum (present-day Albania), with its seat in the city of Vlora.
His ordination at such a young age is justified for the era in which Saint Eleftherios lived, because the Church needed leaders with virtues, faith and education, in a period of terrible persecution by the Roman state, where bishops were the first victims.
The young and noble bishop justified the choice of the bishop of Rome for the episcopal throne of Illyricum. Despite his young age, he showed unprecedented maturity. The sweetness of his speech, his kindness to all, his virtues and wisdom supported the Church and attracted a multitude of pagans to the Christian faith. His apparent holiness was often confirmed by many miracles, which supported the tested Christians and converted the pagans to the Christian truth. He had organized missions throughout Illyricum, where he founded churches.
However, his actions soon became known to the Roman authorities. His fame reached Rome, to the ears of the emperor. The devil incited the fanatical pagan emperor to send one of his generals, Felix, to arrest Eleftherios. When he arrived in Vlora with a wild disposition, the holy bishop was preaching in a place that he had turned into a temple, because the Romans did not allow Christians to build temples. He surrounded the place with his soldiers and Felix himself entered the temple to arrest him. However, the rude and wild pagan general stood still and listened to Eleftherios speaking to the congregation, who was not disturbed by his presence. He was captivated by the calmness of the holy bishop's face and the sweetness of his words. He had never heard words of love for everyone, even for his enemies. He had lived amidst the savagery and violence of Roman power and the vengeful fury of paganism. For the first time he had heard of a God of love and compassion, in contrast to the "gods" of his religion, who were synonymous with hatred, revenge, deceit and misanthropy!
He did not proceed with his arrest, but his fierce gaze calmed down, his countenance became peaceful. He approached the saint and asked to be catechized and baptized! He forgot the emperor's order to bring Eleftherios bound to Rome. But something happened that he did not expect. The holy bishop asked him to carry out the imperial order so that he would not be deprived of the martyr's crown!
Felix, despite his objections, obeyed and led the saint to Rome. He presented him to the emperor, who began to flatter him to deny Christ and sacrifice to idols. He promised him wealth and honors, and then threatened him with torture. But Eleftherius remained steadfast in his faith and denounced the foolishness of pagan religion.
Then the horrible tortures began. The brutal and corrupt emperor ordered him to be laid on a red-hot iron bed in order to die in unbearable pain. But God cooled the bed and the saint was saved. Then they put him in a large frying pan to fry him, but again God saved him, extinguishing the fire. They threw him into boiling tar, but he came out unharmed. The hard-hearted prefect Koremon threw him into a red-hot furnace with pointed nails, but once again the saint was miraculously saved. Seeing the miracle, the prefect became a Christian, who was beheaded by Hadrian.
Eleftherios was taken to prison to die of hunger, but God sent a dove with food. They then tied him to two wild horses to drag him behind them so that his flesh would be torn apart, but the horses would not move from their position! Finally, the emperor gave the order to throw him to the beasts in the arena, in front of the pagan crowd. But even here the beasts did not harm him. That is why he gave the order to behead him. At the time of his beheading, his holy mother Anthia ran to him, who was also beheaded and both received the crown of martyrdom.
His memory is celebrated on December 15th and with him is celebrated the memory of his mother Anthia, the prefect Koremonas and his two executioners, who believed in Christ and were beheaded!
These are the heroes of our Christian faith, who should inspire in us heroism and unwavering faith in our only Savior Christ!
photo Greek Radio FL
