Memorial Day of Twenty Thousand Martyrs

On December 28, old style, or January 10, new style, parishioners of Eastern churches commemorate the memory of 20,000 holy martyrs Their names are known: Zinon, Theophilus, Glycerius, Dorotheus, Migdonius, Mardonius, Indis, Peter, Gorgonius, Secundus, Agathia, Nicostratus, Domna, Antonia and others Many emperors of Ancient Rome are known to us for their iron will and callousness Particularly prominent among them are those who in every possible way showed society their rejection of the Christian worldview Such was the Emperor Maximilian Herculius, who ruled the Roman Empire from 285 to 305 AD He began to implement his policy of persecuting Christians in 393 AD By order of this ruler, activities were launched, the purpose of which was the destruction of Christian churches, the destruction of liturgical literature and the persecution of church parishioners (deprivation of positions and rights, confiscation of property, and so on) Nevertheless, thanks to Saint Cyril, the former bishop of the city of Nicomedia, and his piety, even among the dignitaries of the Roman ruler there were many Christians Being a zealous pagan, in whose house not only sacrifices were made, but also the priestess Dobna lived, Maximilian persistently and quite successfully pursued his policy But when the emperor was not at home, the priestess read the Epistles of the Apostle Paul and the Acts of the Apostles These books aroused her interest in Christian doctrine After a short time, one of the Christian women advised her to go and talk to Bishop Kirill She did so, taking the eunuch Indis with her as her faithful friend The bishop not only received guests and answered their questions, but also baptized the pagans, which changed the future life of the priestess and eunuch A couple of Christian converts were helping those in need But the chief of the eunuchs found out about this help, and ordered the girl and the boy to be imprisoned and deprived of food However, Indis and Domna, strengthened and guarded by the Angels, did not die and after some time were released Not wanting to return to the past, the former priestess achieved exile by pretending to be insane Having reached the women's monastery, Domna was dressed by Abbess Agafya in men's clothing, cut her hair and blessed for her further journey The soldiers sent to search for the couple returned without results, but still destroyed the monastery, threw the nuns behind bars and tortured them there One day, Maximilian decided to make a bloody sacrifice to his gods in the city square Having learned that the participants in the ritual were going to sprinkle the blood of killed animals on those present, the believers in Christ began to hastily leave, which infuriated the Roman ruler Entering the Christian church, he demanded that those gathered renounce Christ If they refuse, they will be burned alive along with the temple Presbyter Glykeria and the people present in the church refused to do this The enraged ruler put Glykeria on trial, but even terrible torture and a sentence of burning did not force the clergyman to renounce his faith The public execution was scheduled for Christmas Day On this bright holiday, about 20,000 believers gathered in the Nicomedia Christian Cathedral The herald sent there conveyed the ruler’s order: everyone should go out and make a sacrifice to the idol gods, otherwise the temple would be burned along with the people The parishioners refused to carry out the will of the emperor The soldiers began to prepare to burn the church, and Bishop Anfim, who performed the service, announced and baptized everyone in the church, after which he communed them with the Holy Mystery of Christ Thus, all those who died did not die as pagans, but as Christians