According to the folk calendar - Guryev Day

On November 28, Orthodox Christians celebrate the day of remembrance of three Christian martyrs - Guria, Aviv and Samon The holiday was named Guryev Day in honor of one of them The life stories of the three martyrs were recorded by their contemporary, Theophilus of Edessa At a young age he was a convinced pagan, but later revised his beliefs and became a Christian First, Theophilus wrote about the martyrdom of Gurias and Samon, and then created a separate chronicle about Aviv, who died for the faith much later The Roman Emperor Diocletian entered the annals of history not only as an eccentric who exchanged power for growing cabbage He was known primarily as the initiator of the great persecution of Christians This persecution for faith became the most brutal in the entire history of the Roman Empire In 303, Diocletian, along with the rest of the tetrarchs, drafted a bill whose provisions would deprive Christians of their civil rights They had to give up their religion and become pagans like the rest of the Romans Diocletian and other rulers did not stop there They issued several more edicts, because of which Christian priests became outlaws, and ordinary believers had to take part in sacrifices Naturally, such despotic orders were not liked by those against whom they were directed Some Christians actually chose to leave the faith and save their lives, but there were many who fought to the very end Since at that time there were four rulers in power, these laws were implemented selectively in different parts of the large empire Diocletian was an ardent opponent of Christianity and it was with his message that mass persecution began The emperor, long before the start of the official “sheep hunt,” mercilessly executed Christians, removed them from the army, and carefully selected only haters of this religion into his circle Gury and Samon were laymen from the ancient city of Edessa, of which only ruins remain today in southeastern Turkey When mass persecution began, both hastily left the city, deciding to flee, but their pursuers overtook them and took them into custody Samon and Gury were given a chance to avoid torture and execution They were persuaded to take part in the pagan ritual of sacrifice, thereby abandoning Christian beliefs, but the captives were adamant Guria and Samon were brought to trial, where torture was used instead of persuasion The martyrs were tied with shackles, a stone was tied to their feet and left in a suspended position for several hours Even after such torture, the captives did not accept the pagan faith They were returned to prison, where, according to various sources, they spent from several months to several years When the trial was repeated, Samon was again tortured, but the martyrs remained adamant, for which they were beheaded Local Christians took care of the bodies of the dead and buried the remains Deacon Aviv suffered martyrdom much later By that time, the great persecution had already ended, but the new emperor Licinius was prejudiced against Christians Someone wrote a denunciation against Aviva, for which the clergyman was taken into custody and brought to trial before the ruler Licinius tried to persuade the deacon to the pagan faith, but he refused Aviva was burned alive In Rus', this holiday was called not only Gury’s Day, but also simply Gury or Guryan People used to say, “Gury came on a piebald mare” On this day, people paid quite a lot of attention to animals There was even such a sign that if the horses in the stable neighed loudly on Guryev’s Day, it meant that the year would be successful It was believed that this martyr could drive away any evil spirits that were hiding in the ground in the hope of hiding from the coming cold Gury, according to legend, helped in the treatment of toothaches, so on the holiday they turned to him with an appropriate prayer People who were born on Guryev's day were given a cartload of hay or oats for the holiday In this way, peasants ensured good health for their horses If snow fell on Guryev’s day, then according to signs it was believed that it would remain until the spring flood The frost on the holiday was good news, as it drove out all evil spirits from the earth The Nativity fast also begins on Guryev's day