Commemorated on October
26th
Saint Demetrios was a Thessalonian, a most pious son of pious
and noble parents, and a teacher of the Faith of Christ. When Maximian first
came to Thessalonica in 290 A.D., he raised the Saint to the rank of Duke of
Thessaly. But when it was discovered that the Saint was a Christian, he was
arrested and kept bound in a bath-house. While the games were under way in the
city, Maximian was a spectator there. A certain friend of his, a barbarian who
was a notable wrestler, Lyaeus by name, waxing haughty because of the height and
strength of his body, boasted in the stadium and challenged the citizens to a
contest with him. All that fought with him were defeated.
Seeing this, a certain youth named Nestor, an acquaintance of
Demetrios, came to the Saint in the bath-house and asked his blessing to fight
Lyaeus single-handed. Receiving this blessing and sealing himself with the sign
of the precious Cross, he presented himself in the stadium and said, "O God of
Demetrios, help me!" and he immediately engaged Lyaeus in combat and smote him
with a mortal blow to the heart, leaving the former boaster lifeless upon the
earth.
Maximian was sorely grieved over this, and when he learned who
was the cause of this defeat, he commanded that Demetrios and Nester be put to
death. Demetrios was pierced with lances while he was still in the bath-house,
and Nestor was killed with his own swords. Not all who left the arena that day
remained pagans.
Source: The Great Horologion (Book of Hours), translated
from the Greek by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Also, Orthodox Saints,
Spiritual Profiles for Modern Man October 1 to December 31, by George Poulos.
|
