ST HORMISDAS, MARTYR - 8 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 8th of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST HORMISDAS [HORMIZD], MARTYR 

[5th century] Isdegerdes, king of Persia, renewed the persecution which Cosroes II had raised against the church. It is not easy, says Theodoret, to describe or express the cruelties which were then invented against the disciples of Christ. 

THE CRUELTIES INVENTED AGAINST THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST

Some were flayed alive, others had the skin torn from off their backs only, others off their faces from the forehead to the chin. Some were stuck all over with reeds split in two, and appeared like porcupines; then these reeds were forcibly plucked out, so as to bring off the skin with them. Some were bound hands and feet, and in that condition thrown into great vaults which were filled with hungry rats, mice, or other such vermin, which gnawed and devoured them by degrees, without their being able to defend themselves. 

Nevertheless, these cruelties hindered not the Christians from running with joy to meet death, that they might gain eternal life. 

ST HORMISDAS WAS ONE VICTIM OF HIS TYRANNY

Isdegerdes dying, the persecution was carried on by his son Varanes; and Hormisdas was one of the most illustrious victims of his tyranny and malice. 

He was of the chief nobility among the Persians, son to the governor of a province, and of the race of the Achemenides. Varanes sent for him, and commanded him to renounce Jesus Christ. 

VARANES COMMANDED HIM TO RENOUNCE JESUS CHRIST

Hormisdas answered him: 

"That this would offend God, and transgress the laws of charity and justice; that whoever dares to violate the supreme law of the sovereign Lord of all things, would more easily betray his king, who is only a mortal man. If the latter be a crime deserving the worst of deaths, what must it be to renounce the God of the universe?"

The king was enraged at this wise and just answer, and caused him to be deprived of his office, honours, and goods, and even stripped of his very clothes, except a small piece of linen that went round his waist; and ordered him in this naked condition to drive and look after the camels of the army. 

HE ORDERED HIM IN THIS NAKED CONDITION TO DRIVE THE CAMELS OF THE ARMY

A long time after, the king, looking out of his chamber window, saw Hormisdas all sunburnt, and covered with dust, and calling to mind his former dignity and riches, and the high station of his father, sent for him, ordered a shirt to be given him, and said to him: 

"LAY ASIDE THY OBSTINACY AND RENOUNCE THE CARPENTER'S SON"

"Now at least lay aside thy obstinacy, and renounce the carpenter’s son." The saint transported with holy zeal, tore the shirt or tunic, and threw it away, saying: "If you thought that I should so easily be tempted to abandon the law of God, keep your fine present with your impiety." 

The king, incensed at his boldness, banished him again with indignation from his presence. St Hormisdas happily finished his course; and is named in the Roman Martyrology. (From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints - 📷 A noble Persian 5th century horse rider)