SS. SOSTHENES AND VICTOR, MARTYRS - 10 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 10th of September

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. SOSTHENES AND VICTOR, MARTYRS

Saints Sosthenes and Victor were martyrs at Chalcedon, opposite Constantinople (A.D. 307), in the persecution under Diocletian. They were among the executioners appointed to torture St Euphemia; but through her prayers were converted to Christianity and preceded her to martyrdom. 

(From the Book of Saints, 1921, by the Monks of Ramsgate)

ST EUPHEMIA'S DEATH

[After most extensive, inhumane torture,] Euphemia was handed over to be consumed by wild beasts. As the saint was being led into the arena where she was to be fed to the beasts, she prayed to God that He put an end to her suffering, the He receive her soul into His hands, and that He summon her spirit to come forth from her long-suffering body to the land for which it longed.

THE EARTH TREMBLED, THE CITY WAS SHAKEN

As her soul departed, the earth trembled, the city was shaken, its walls tumbled down, and its temples were razed to the ground. The people were terror-stricken, and all fled from the arena in fear as the saint’s holy body lay dead in the sand. Euphemia’s parents came and took their holy daughter and reverently buried her near the city, giving thanks to God and rejoicing that they had been deemed worthy to be the parents of such a daughter, who by the shedding of her blood became the bride of Christ, the Heavenly Bridegroom and King of all. 

(From the writings of St Dimitri - 🎨 The last stages of St Euphemia's martyrdom)