Memorial Day of the Holy Martyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia

On September 16, Christians celebrate the day of remembrance of the holy martyr Anthimus, who was the Bishop of Nicomedia Together with his fellow believers, he was persecuted during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian After he came to power in the empire, the era of dominance began Thanks to one of the famous Soviet films, the emperor became known as a ruler who, in his declining years, chose to step away from power and grow cabbage on his family estate Despite such a peaceful decline of his life, during his reign Diocletian was known as a cruel emperor who did not spare Christians and declared real war on them The reason for the official start of the persecution of Christians was a fire in the imperial palace None of the historical sources contain reliable information about the causes of the fire, but the pagans preferred to blame Christians for the arson When about 20,000 believers gathered in the Cathedral of Nicomedia to celebrate the Nativity of Christ along with Bishop Anthimus, the emperor sent an envoy to them with an ultimatum letter In it, the ruler demanded to leave the church and ordered sacrifices to pagan idols As punishment for disobedience, the emperor threatened to set fire to the church along with the people Those gathered unanimously refused to obey, and the cathedral was set on fire While the flames were burning, Anfim, who led the service, hastily carried out the rites of baptism and communion About 20,000 people locked in the church were burned alive The bishop himself left the church and hid from retribution among his fellow believers in a village in the vicinity of Nicomedia at the request of his flock Anthimus had to hide from Roman soldiers, but he regularly sent messages to Christians, in which he asked not to betray their faith and not to be afraid of torture Deacon Theophilus was caught with one of these letters They captured him and began to torture him, but they never got the truth Theophilus died, but did not betray Anthimus and did not tell the Romans about his location As a result, the emperor finally found out where the fugitive was hiding and sent a detachment of soldiers to the village The military met the bishop on the road, but did not recognize the ordinary traveler as the one who was to be brought to the ruler Anfim himself called them, struck up a conversation, treated them to lunch and ultimately admitted who he really was After communicating with the bishop, the soldiers did not want to take him prisoner and take him to the emperor One of them suggested reporting that the fugitive had escaped and they were unable to capture him This proposal was rejected by Anfim himself, who did not tolerate lies He converted the soldiers into Christians and forced them to escort him to the emperor To intimidate, the ruler gave the order to bring the instruments of execution and lay them down in front of the prisoner, but this did not have the desired effect Anfim said that he was glad to accept martyrdom for his faith He was tortured for a long time, after which he was executed, but the holy martyr did not give up until the last and continued to glorify Christ