Holy Martyr Cindeus the Presbyter (III–IV)

The holy Martyr Cindeus the Presbyter served in the Pamphylian village of Side. During the cruel persecution of the faithful under the Emperor Diocletian (284–305) he was seized and sentenced to be burned. The soldiers leading the blessed one to execution met a woodcutter on the road and took from him by force a large bundle of firewood for the pyre. Cindeus took thirty copper coins from his pocket and gave them to the weary labourer, and then lifted the load onto his shoulders and carried it himself to the place of execution. At that moment a terrible thunderstorm broke out; rain came down and put out the pyre. When the storm had died down, the blessed martyr commended his soul to the Lord in peace. A pagan priest who was present at Cindeus’s sufferings believed in Christ together with his wife under the influence of his preaching. The newly converted committed the martyr’s body to the earth with honour.