December 28 / December 15

1. The Holy Hieromartyr Eleutherius, bishop of Illyria, and Martyrs Anthia (his mother), Coremonus the Eparch, and two executioners who suffered with them (ca. 120)

From a good tree comes good fruit. This wonderful saint had noble and greatly eminent parents. Eleutherius was born in Rome, where his father was an imperial proconsul. His mother Anthia heard the Gospel from the great Apostle Paul and was baptized by him. Having been left a widow early, she entrusted her only son for study and service to Anicetus the Bishop of Rome. Seeing how Eleutherius was gifted by God and illumined by the grace of God, the bishop ordained him a deacon at the age of fifteen, a priest at the age of eighteen, and a bishop at the age of twenty. Eleutherius’s God-given wisdom made up for what he lacked in years, and this chosen one of God was appointed Bishop of Illyria with his seat in Valona (Avlona), Albania. The good shepherd guarded his flock well and increased their number day by day. Emperor Hadrian, a persecutor of Christians, sent the commander Felix with soldiers to seize Eleutherius and bring him to Rome. When the raging Felix arrived in Valona and entered the church, he saw and heard the holy hierarch of God; suddenly his heart changed, and he became a Christian. Eleutherius baptized Felix and departed for Rome with him, returning joyfully as if he were going to a feast and not to trial and torture. The emperor subjected the noble Eleutherius to harsh torture: flogging, roasting on an iron bed, boiling in pitch, and burning in a fiery furnace. But Eleutherius was delivered from all these deadly tortures by God’s power. Seeing all this, Caribus the Roman eparch declared that he also was a Christian. Caribus was tortured and then beheaded, and so was Blessed Felix. Finally, the imperial executioners cut off the honorable head of St. Eleutherius. When his mother, the holy Anthia, came and stood over the dead body of her son, she also was beheaded. Their bodies were translated to Valona, where even today St. Eleutherius glorifies the name of Christ by his many miracles. He suffered during the reign of Hadrian in the year 120.

2.  Saint Stephen the Confessor, of Surozh in Crimea (ca. 790)

Stephen was born in Cappadocia and educated in Constantinople under the Patriarch, St. Germanus. He withdrew into solitude and lived hidden from the world. An angel appeared to St. Germanus and ordered him to appoint Stephen bishop of the town of Surozh (now Sudak in the Crimea), and the patriarch did so. The zealous Stephen converted many to Christianity. He suffered bitterly under Emperor Leo the Isaurian for the sake of icons. He prophesied to the emperor his impending death. Follow- ing this wicked emperor’s evil death, Stephen was returned to his diocese, where he fed his God-pleasing flock and died peacefully at the end of the eighth century.

3. The Venerable Paul of Mt. Latros

Paul was born in Pergamum. He lived a life of asceticism on a mountain called Latros in Asia Minor. Glorified because of his asceticism and many miracles, he entered peacefully into rest in old age and took up his habitation with the Lord in the year 956.

4.  The Venerable Pardus the Hermit of Palestine

In his youth, Pardus was a cart-driver, but because of an unintentional sin, he left the world and withdrew to the desert to live in asceticism. He lived in Palestine in the sixth century.

• Martyr Eleutherius of Byzantium (beg. of 4th ).
• Martyr Susanna the Deaconess, of Palestine (4th ).
• Monk-martyr Bacchus of Sabbas Monastery, at Misr al-Fustat (Egypt) (787).
• Synaxis of the Saints of Crimea.
• Tryphon of Pechenga, or Kola (1583), and his martyred disciple Jonah (16th c.).
• Synaxis of the Saints of Kola.
• New Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), archbishop of Verey (1929).

HYMN OF PRAISE

The Holy Hieromartyr Eleutherius

Eleutherius, saint of God,
You did not conceal God’s truth from men,
But with God’s truth you enlightened men
And offered salvation to each and all.
Let the Church of God rejoice;
Let all of Illyria rejoice.
Behold, God sent to her a wonderful man:
Eleutherius, a true saint.
His very name means “freedom”:
Eleutherius bears freedom,
True freedom from the slavery of sin.
True freedom does not exist without Christ.
Let the town of Valona also rejoice.
In her the relics of the saint repose:
Miraculous relics that heal the sick,
A flame from which the demons flee.
Blessed is the mother who gives birth to a saint.
St. Anthia, thrice blessed,
Now is comforted in the garden of Paradise,
And gazes upon her son, Eleutherius.
O Eleutherius, pray for us,
That the gracious God may have mercy on us also.

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