August 17 / August 4

1.  The Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus (“Seven Sleepers”)

There was a great persecution of Chris- tians during the reign of Decius. The emperor himself went to Ephesus, and there arranged a boisterous and noisy celebration in honor of the lifeless idols—as well as a terrible slaughter of Christians. Seven young men, soldiers, refrained from the impure offering of sacrifices. They earnestly prayed to the one God to save the Christian people. They were the sons of the most influential elders of Ephesus. Their names were Maximilian, Jamblicus, Martinian, John, Dionysius, Exacustodianus and Antoninus. When they were accused before the emperor, they retreated to a hill outside of Ephesus called Celion, and there they hid in a cave. When the emperor learned of this, he commanded that the cave be walled shut. Yet, God—according to His far-reaching providence—caused a miraculous and long-lasting sleep to fall upon the young men. The imperial courtiers Theodore and Rufinus (themselves secret Christians) built a small copper box into the wall. It contained lead plaques on which were written the names of these young men, and which recorded their martyric deaths during the reign of Emperor Decius. More than two hundred years passed. During the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408– 450), there was a great dispute about the resurrection of the dead, and there were some who doubted in it. Emperor Theodosius was in great sorrow as a result of this dispute among the faithful, and prayed to God that He, in some way, would reveal the truth to men. Then some shepherds of Adolius, who owned the hill Celion, were building folds for their sheep, using stones from the cave. They removed stone after stone. Suddenly, the youths awoke from their sleep, as youthful and healthy as on the day they fell asleep. The news of this miracle was spread abroad in every direction, so that Theodosius himself came with a great entourage and conversed with the youths, to his delight. After a week, they again fell into the deep repose from which they had awakened, to await the General Resurrection. Emperor Theodosius wanted to place their bodies in gold caskets; but they appeared to him in a dream, and told him to leave them in the earth as they had been laid there.

2. The New Hieromartyr Cosmas of Aitolia, Equal-to-the-Apostles (1779)

Cosmas was born in Aitolia in the village of Megadendron (Large Tree). As a young man he went to Mount Athos, where he was tonsured a monk in the Monastery of Philotheou. However, driven by a constant desire to preach the Holy Gospel to the people, Cosmas went to Constantinople, where he asked the blessing of Patriarch Seraphim II. He visited the regions of the Danube, preaching the Gospel, but remained mostly in Albania, where he suffered at the hands of Kurt Pasha, whom the Jews had incited against Cos- mas. The Turks strangled Cosmas and threw his body into a river, in the year 1779. His miracle-working relics repose in the village of Kalikontasi in the Church of the Holy Theotokos, not far from the town of Berat. Cos- mas suffered for his Lord in the sixty-fifth year of his life.

• Martyr Eleutherius of Byzantium (beg. of 4th ).
• Martyr Eudocia of Anatolia in Persia (362).
• New Hieromartyr Michael, hieromonk, of Staroye Zubarevo (Mordovia) (1937).
• (Greek : Martyrs Ia and 9,000 with her, in Persia [363]).

 

HYMN OF PRAISE

The Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus

When the last rays of the sun reddened the west,
The Seven Youths prayed to God
That on the morrow they might again find themselves alive and well;
But they were brought before Emperor Decius for torture,
And lay down to sleep a long, deep sleep.
Time passed with long strides.
One morning, the sun rose in the east,
And the Seven awoke from their deep sleep.
Then Jamblicus, the youngest, ran to Ephesus
To see and hear and ask about everything:
Did Decius still hunt them for the slaughter?
And he went to buy bread for the Seven.
But behold the wonder:
this is not the same gate!
And the city is completely different!
Everywhere are beautiful churches, domes and crosses!
Jamblicus asked himself:
Are these not dreams?
No familiar faces; no kinsmen anywhere:
There are no persecutions; there are no martyrs!
“Tell me, brethren, the name of this city,
And tell me the name of the emperor who now reigns,”
Jamblicus inquired. The people looked at him,
And he was the object of much opinion!
“This city is Ephesus, now as before;
Emperor Theodosius now reigns in Christ!”
The proconsul heard of this, as did the gray-haired bishop;
The whole city was perplexed, and all ran to the cave,
And, seeing the miracle, glorified God
And the resurrected servants of the risen Christ.

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