The
Eleventh Day
Of the
Month of November
The Passion of the Holy
martyrs
Victor and
Stephanida
During the reign of the Roman
Emperor Antoninus, there lived a soldier named Victor, who was born in
Saint Victor replied, “I will not obey the decree of the godless Emperor, for my King is the immortal God, the Saviour Jesus Christ, Whose kingdom has no end. Your Emperor, however, is mortal, and his Empire fleeting; those who do his impious will shall perish in eternity.”
The General said, “You are our Emperor’s soldier, so you must do his will and offer sacrifice!”
“I am no longer the soldier of an earthly emperor, but of the King of heaven,” answered Victor. “Although I served your Emperor for a time, I never ceased to labor for my King. I will not forsake the Lord now, nor will I sacrifice to your idols. Do with me as you wish: my body is in your hands, and you have power over it, but God alone has power over my soul.”
The General said, “You bring misfortune upon yourself, my man, by refusing to obey the Emperor’s decree. I counsel you to sacrifice to the gods and to flee the torments which are about to come upon you.”
The saint answered, “I wish to suffer for my Lord and rejoice greatly that I have been deemed worthy to undergo torment for His name.”
Without delay the General
commanded that Victor’s fingers be broken and twisted out of their joints. He
then had a furnace heated with a roaring fire, and Saint Victor was cast into
it. The martyr remained alive and unharmed therein for three days, like the
three children in the furnace in
After this, the General summoned a sorcerer and ordered him to poison Saint Victor. The sorcerer boiled meat in a fatal potion and gave it to the saint to eat. The saint said, “Although it is not proper for me to partake of meat which you have defiled, I shall nevertheless eat of it so that you may know that your poison is of no effect against the might of my Lord, the Giver of life.”
Victor then prayed and ate some of the poisoned meat, suffering no harm, When the wizard saw this, he prepared more meat, tainted by a stronger potion, and said to the saint, “If you eat this and still remain alive, I will straightway renounce all sorcery and believe in your God.”
Saint Victor again ate the meat and remained unharmed; and the wizard cried out loudly, “Lo, Victor, you have prevailed over the power of my sorcery, and have brought my soul, which perished long ago, out of Hades. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom you proclaim!”
The sorcerer returned to his home, gathered together all his books of wizardry and all his talisman, and burned them, and be became a perfect Christian.
The General saw that nothing could harm the saint, but angrily commanded that all the martyr’s sinews be pulled from his body. After this, he ordered that Victor be plunged into boiling oil. When this was done, the saint cried, “This is as pleasant to me as cold water to a thirsty man!”
The persecutor became yet angrier and ordered that the saint be suspended from a tree and his body burned with candles. Then vinegar mixed with a poisonous powder was poured into Victor’s mouth. The saint said, “vinegar and poison are sweeter to me than honey and the honeycomb.”
His persecutor was brought to a fury and ordered that the martyr’s eyes be plucked out. He then had Victor hung upside down and went way, leaving him thus for three days. By the fourth day the soldiers felt certain that the martyr must have died, so they came to see him. When they found him alive, they marveled. They were overcome by terror and were struck blind, and each began to grope about for someone to serve as a guide. But the saint had mercy on them and prayed fervently to the Lord. He said to the soldiers, “In the mane of my Lord Jesus Christ: see!”
Immediately the soldiers received their sight again, and went to tell the General what had occurred. He continued to grow more demented, and commanded his soldiers to skin Saint Victor alive. While this was being done, a woman, named Stephanida, a Christian and the wife of one of the soldiers, who was present in the crowd which and gathered to behold the martyr’s contest, saw two beautiful crowns come down from heave, She began to extol the saint with a loud voice, crying, “O Victor, you are blessed, and blessed are the sufferings which you have endured for Christ’s sake! Your sacrifice is as pleasing to God as was Abel’s, for with a righteous heart you have offered yourself unto the Lord. God has accepted you as He once accepted the righteous Enoch, whom He translated unto paradise so that he would not taste of death until the appointed time. You are righteous even as was Noah, who was full of good works and perfect in his generations. You have displayed faith as did Abraham and have offered yourself in sacrifice unto God as did Isaac. You have labored as did Jacob. You have shown yourself to be as wise as Joseph, to whom it was given to prophesy of things to come. You were tried like Job, who after much suffering prevailed over the devil. You have emulated Isaiah, who was sawn in half by Manasseh. The flames did not touch you, just as they did not touch the youths in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace. You have placed your hope in God as once did David, the son of Jesse. Lo, I see two crowns descending from heaven: one larger, brought for you by twelve angels, and the other a smaller one for me, for I am a frail vessel! Nevertheless, I am ready to enter the contest, to contend manfully for our Lord, and to lay down my soul for Him.”
The General heard Stephanida say this and commanded those who stood nearby to seize her and bring her to him. Gazing haughtily at her, he asked, “Who are you?”
The saint answered, “I am a Christian.”
The General then asked her more questions and learned that her name was Stephanida, that she was fifteen years and eight months of age, and that she had lived with her husband for a year and four months. He spoke to her kindly, “How is it that you are so quick to forsake this beautiful world, its sweet life, and honorable wedlock? Why do you wish to ruin your youthful beauty and voluntarily surrender yourself to death for the Crucified One?”
The saint replied, “I wish to abandon this vain, fleeting world, all the sweet things of the flesh, and my mortal spouse, so that I may go forth with the wise virgins to meet the incorruptible and immortal Bridegroom, Christ my Saviour.”
“Cease these false and unprofitable words concerning your God! Sacrifice to our gods!” the General demanded.
Saint Stephanida answered, “You and your gods are altogether false, but I speak the truth, for my Lord is truth and there is no unrighteousness in Him. I will not sacrifice to false gods. I desire to become an acceptable sacrifice unto the true God, Who dwells in the heavens, and do not wish to lose the crown prepared for me in His kingdom.”
The Tyrant then ordered that two date palms which stood nearby be bent toward the ground and that Saint Stephanida be tied to them and torn apart. One of her legs was fastened to the top of the first bent palm tree and the other to the second. The palms were released, and as they sprang up, they rent the saint in tow. The soul of the holy martyr flew away as if from a torn net and found its nest in heaven adorned with the crown prepared of it.
At last, the persecutor commanded that Saint Victor’s head be cut off. When the saint heard that the sentence of death had been pronounced, he gave thanks to God. A they were about to behead him, he foretold the death of his executioners, saying to them, “You will die within twelve days, and in twenty-four days your General will fall into the hands of his enemies.”
So saying, Victor bent his honorable head beneath the sword. After his execution, milk mixed with blood flowed fro his corpse, and many of the unbelievers who beheld the miracle believed in Christ. Still more believed when they saw his prophecy fulfilled: a sudden death befell the executioners, and the General was taken captive by his foes.
Saint Victor and Saint Stephanida
suffered in the city of
Amen.