Holy Martyr Myron the Presbyter (+250)

The holy Martyr Myron was a presbyter in Achaia (Greece); he lived in the third century and suffered for Christ in 250, in the reign of the Emperor Decius (249–251). He was usually very humble and merciful, but he showed wonderful firmness and boldness when it came to defending his spiritual children. Once, on the feast of the Nativity of Christ, the blessed father was celebrating the divine service. Suddenly the local ruler Antipater burst into the church with soldiers to arrest the worshippers and hand them over to the executioners. Seeing this, Myron stood up for his flock and boldly denounced the governor for his cruelty. For this terrible torments were brought upon him: he was hung up, torn with iron hooks, and then thrown into a red-hot furnace. The flames bursting from the furnace consumed a hundred and fifty people standing nearby, while the holy father himself, by God’s will, remained unharmed. Then the governor demanded that the martyr worship the idols, and when he received a firm refusal in reply, he ordered strips of skin like belts to be cut from his body. Saint Myron took one of these belts and threw it in the tormentor’s face. The enraged Antipater threw the flayed victim of Christ to the beasts to be torn apart. The beasts did not touch the Lord’s chosen one. Enraged and in despair at the sense of his own powerlessness, the ruler ended his life by suicide. Saint Myron was taken to the city of Cyzicus and beheaded with the sword (+250).