THE
HOLY VIRGIN-MARTYR TATIANA
January 12th
Της
Αγίας Μάρτυρος Τατιάνης
She was born into an illustrious Roman family, and
her father was elected consul three times. He was secretly a Christian and
raised his daughter to be devoted to God and the Church. When she reached the
age of maturity, Tatiana decided to remain a virgin, betrothing herself to
Christ. Disdaining earthly riches, she sought instead the imperishable wealth of
Heaven. She was made a deaconess in one of the Roman churches and served God in
fasting and prayer, tending the sick and helping the needy.
When Rome was ruled by the sixteen-year-old
Alexander Severus (222-235), all power was concentrated in the hands of the
regent Ulpian, an evil enemy and persecutor of Christians. Christian blood
flowed like water. Tatiana was also arrested, and they brought her into the
temple of Apollo to force her to offer sacrifice to the idol. The saint began
praying, and suddenly there was an earthquake. The idol was smashed into pieces,
and part of the temple collapsed and fell down on the pagan priests and many
pagans. The demon inhabiting the idol fled screeching from that place. Those
present saw its shadow flying through the air.
Then they tore holy virgin's eyes out with hooks,
but she bravely endured everything, praying for her tormentors that the Lord
would open their spiritual eyes. And the Lord heard the prayer of His servant.
The executioners saw four angels encircle the saint and beat her tormentors. A
voice was heard from the heavens speaking to the holy virgin. Eight men believed
in Christ and fell on their knees before St. Tatiana, begging them to forgive
them their sin against her. For confessing themselves Christians they were
tortured and executed, receiving Baptism by blood.
The next day St. Tatiana was brought before the
wicked judge. Seeing her completely healed of all her wounds, they stripped her
and beat her, and slashed her body with razors. A wondrous fragrance then filled
the air. Then she was stretched out on the ground and beaten for so long that
the servants had to be replaced several times. The torturers became exhausted
and said that an invisible power was beating them with iron rods. Indeed, the
angels warded off the blows directed at her and turned them upon the tormentors,
causing nine of them to fall dead. They then threw the saint in prison, where
she prayed all night and sang praises to the Lord with the angels.
A new morning began, and they took St. Tatiana to
the tribunal once more. The torturers beheld with astonishment that after such
terrible torments she appeared completely healthy and even more radiant and
beautiful than before. They began to urge her to offer sacrifice to the goddess
Diana. The saint seemed agreeable, and they took her to the heathen temple. St.
Tatiana made the Sign of the Cross and began to pray. Suddenly, there was a
crash of deafening thunder, and lightning struck the idol, the sacrificial
offerings and the pagan priests.
Once again, the martyr was fiercely tortured. She
was hung up and scraped with iron claws, and her breasts were cut off. That
night, angels appeared to her in prison and healed her wounds as before. On the
following day, they took St. Tatiana to the circus and loosed a hungry lion on
her. The beast did not harm the saint, but meekly licked her feet.
As they were taking the lion back to its cage, it
killed one of the torturers. They threw Tatiana into a fire, but the fire did
not harm the martyr. The pagans, thinking that she was a sorceress, cut her hair
to take away her magical powers, then locked her up in the temple of Zeus.
On the third day, pagan priests came to the
temple intending to offer sacrifice to Zeus. They beheld the idol on the floor,
shattered to pieces, and the holy martyr Tatiana joyously praising the Lord
Jesus Christ. The judge then condemned the valiant sufferer to be beheaded with
a sword. Her father was also executed with her, because he had raised her to
love Christ.
Source:
OCA
