Holy Martyr Hyacinth (+108)

The holy Martyr Hyacinth was brought up in a family of Orthodox believers living in Caesarea of Cappadocia. He served at the court of the Roman Emperor Trajan (98–117).

Once Hyacinth, shut up in his room, was praying fervently. A servant overheard the words of the prayer and denounced the young man to Trajan, saying that he did not carry out the king’s command, did not worship the Roman gods, and prayed to Christ in secret.

The saint was seized and brought to the emperor. The lawless autocrat offered the Lord’s chosen one meat sacrificed to idols, but he firmly refused and boldly confessed his faith. By Trajan’s order the confessor was cruelly tortured and then shut up in prison. Here the martyr was tormented with hunger and thirst and pressed to eat the food offered to idols. On the thirty-eighth day a guard who came in to the saint with the idol-offerings saw how angels of the Lord approached him, clothed him in a garment of light and adorned him with a crown.

The tormentors decided to bring Hyacinth to trial again, but on entering the cell they saw that he had already commended his soul to the Lord. The holy martyr died in the city of Rome at the age of twenty (+108). His holy relics were later translated to Caesarea.