Daily saints, march 3
holy...@wondering.com
The Holy Martyrs Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus suffered in the
city of Pontine Amasea (Asia Minor) in about the year 308. The brothers
Eutropius and Cleonicus, and Basiliscus the nephew of the Great Martyr
Theodore the Recruit (February 17), were comrades. After the martyric
death of St Theodore, they wound up in prison and by their preaching
brought many of the pagans in prison with them to the Christian Faith.
When he tortured St Theodore, Publius perished shamefully, struck down
by divine wrath. Asclepiodotus was chosen as ruler of Amasea, and was
more inhumane than his predecessor. Knowing the comrades of St Theodore
the Recruit were all in prison, the governor commanded that they be
brought to him. Sts Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus thus firmly
confessed their faith in Christ before this new governor. They were
mercilessly beaten, so that their bodies were entirely bruised.
Seeing that the people were distraught and ready to believe in the true
God, the governor commanded the martyrs to be taken away. The governor
then invited St Eutropius to supper and urged him to offer public
sacrifice to the pagan gods, yet remain a Christian in soul. Eutropius
refused this offer. On the following day they brought the martyrs to a
pagan temple, to force them to offer sacrifice. Eutropius entreated the
Savior: "Lord, be with us, and destroy the raging of the pagans. Grant
that on this place the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Christians be offered
to You, the true God."
The governor Asclepiodotus gave orders to drive high wooden stakes into
the ground, tie the martyrs to them and pour boiling tar over them. The
saints began to pray to God, and Eutropius cried out turning to the
torturers: "May the Lord turn your deed against you!"
Those seeing this fled in terror, but the governor in his bitterness
gave orders to rake their bodies with iron hooks and to sting their
wounds with mustard mixed with salt and vinegar. The saints endured
these torments with remarkable firmness. On the morning of March 3, Sts
Eutropius and Cleonicus were crucified, but Basiliscus was left in
prison. St Basiliscus was executed on May 22 in the city of Komana. They
beheaded him, and threw his body into a river, but Christians found his
relics and buried them in a ploughed field. Later at Komana a church was
built and dedicated to St Basiliscus.