The Holy Virgin Martyr Tatiana was born into an illustrious Roman
family, and her father was elected consul three times. He was secretly a
Christian and raised his daughter to be devoted to God and the Church.
When she reached the age of maturity, Tatiana decided to remain a
virgin, betrothing herself to Christ. Disdaining earthly riches, she
sought instead the imperishable wealth of Heaven. She was made a
deaconess in one of the Roman churches and served God in fasting and
prayer, tending the sick and helping the needy.
When Rome was
ruled by the sixteen-year-old Alexander Severus (222-235), all power was
concentrated in the hands of the regent Ulpian, an evil enemy and
persecutor of Christians. Christian blood flowed like water. Tatiana was
also arrested, and they brought her into the temple of Apollo to force
her to offer sacrifice to the idol. The saint began praying, and
suddenly there was an earthquake. The idol was smashed into pieces, and
part of the temple collapsed and fell down on the pagan priests and many
pagans. The demon inhabiting the idol fled screeching from that place.
Those present saw its shadow flying through the air.
Then they
tore holy virgin’s eyes out with hooks, but she bravely endured
everything, praying for her tormentors that the Lord would open their
spiritual eyes. And the Lord heard the prayer of His servant. The
executioners saw four angels encircle the saint and beat her tormentors.
A voice was heard from the heavens speaking to the holy virgin. Eight
men believed in Christ and fell on their knees before St Tatiana,
begging them to forgive them their sin against her. For confessing
themselves Christians they were tortured and executed, receiving Baptism
by blood.
The next day St Tatiana was brought before the wicked
judge. Seeing her completely healed of all her wounds, they stripped her
and beat her, and slashed her body with razors. A wondrous fragrance
then filled the air. Then she was stretched out on the ground and beaten
for so long that the servants had to be replaced several times. The
torturers became exhausted and said that an invisible power was beating
them with iron rods. Indeed, the angels warded off the blows directed at
her and turned them upon the tormentors, causing nine of them to fall
dead. They then threw the saint in prison, where she prayed all night
and sang praises to the Lord with the angels.
A new morning began,
and they took St Tatiana to the tribunal once more. The torturers
beheld with astonishment that after such terrible torments she appeared
completely healthy and even more radiant and beautiful than before. They
began to urge her to offer sacrifice to the goddess Diana. The saint
seemed agreeable, and they took her to the heathen temple. St Tatiana
made the Sign of the Cross and began to pray. Suddenly, there was a
crash of deafening thunder, and lightning struck the idol, the
sacrificial offerings and the pagan priests.
Once again, the
martyr was fiercely tortured. She was hung up and scraped with iron
claws, and her breasts were cut off. That night, angels appeared to her
in prison and healed her wounds as before. On the following day, they
took St Tatiana to the circus and loosed a hungry lion on her. The beast
did not harm the saint, but meekly licked her feet.
As they were
taking the lion back to its cage, it killed one of the torturers. They
threw Tatiana into a fire, but the fire did not harm the martyr. The
pagans, thinking that she was a sorceress, cut her hair to take away her
magical powers, then locked her up in the temple of Zeus.
On the
third day, pagan priests came to the temple intending to offer sacrifice
to Zeus. They beheld the idol on the floor, shattered to pieces, and
the holy martyr Tatiana joyously praising the Lord Jesus Christ. The
judge then condemned the valiant sufferer to be beheaded with a sword.
Her father was also executed with her, because he had raised her to love
Christ.
Source-Oca.org
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