SS. HERMYLUS AND STRATONICUS, MARTYRS OF BELGRADE - 13 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 13th of January

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.

SS. HERMYLUS AND STRATONICUS, MARTYRS OF BELGRADE

Saint Hermylus (Hermillus) was martyred around A.D. 315 at Singidunum in Moesia (today's Semendria [Belgrade] in Serbia) under the emperor Licinius.  

HERMYLUS WAS A DEACON

His name and last fight is also famous in the Greek Church. The Menea say of him that Hermylus was a deacon. When he loudly confessed the name of Christ to the emperor, his cheeks were first smashed with iron chopsticks, but then his whole body was torn to pieces with innumerable strokes. 

HIS FRIEND STRATONICUS

His friend Stratonicus began to weep bitterly over him when he saw Hermylus' bowels and heart already exposed. 

Thereupon he was asked whether he by any chance was also a Christian, and when he answered in the affirmative, he was severely beaten and then immediately thrown into the Danube, along with Hermylus. 

A CHRISTIAN BURIAL

Three days later their bodies were found on the banks of the Danube and buried with all honours.

Metaphrastes has described this martyrdom in more detail, but in an ornate and verbose manner. The Greeks celebrate the feast of these saints on June 1; the Roman Martyrology mentions them on January 13.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)