Holy Martyr Mamas (+275), His Father Theodotus and His Mother Rufina (III)
The holy Martyr Mamas was born in Paphlagonia, into the family of pious and noble Christians, Theodotus and Rufina. For confessing the true God the pagans seized his parents and shut them up in prison in Caesarea of Cappadocia. Knowing his bodily weakness, Theodotus fervently besought the Lord to take his soul before the torture. The blessed one’s prayer was heard, and he died in the dungeon. Rufina, who was then with child, was overcome with grief and gave birth to a son before her time; she commended him to God and gave up her spirit beside her husband. A God-fearing Christian woman, Ammia, who learned of this through a miraculous revelation, committed the holy bodies to the earth and took their newborn child with her. When he was five his foster-mother sent him to learn to read and write, and “with great desire for learning he surpassed many of his own age in learning.”
At that time the lawless Aurelian (270–275) ascended the throne. He forced even children to offer sacrifice to the idols. “The treacherous one thought them easy to lead astray because of the tenderness of their age.” The children, “being truly children,” obeyed the will of the foul autocrat, but Mamas, wise in mind, remained firmly faithful to the true faith and taught his companions too to offer only to the almighty God “a sacrifice, rational and spiritual.” When this was reported to the governor Democritus, the boy was seized. Because of Mamas’s illustrious birth Democritus did not dare to torture him, and sent him to the emperor. Aurelian tried first with affection and then with threats to win him over, but in vain: the saint boldly confessed Christ and fearlessly denounced the folly of those who worship soulless idols. The infuriated tormentor brought cruel torments upon the martyr. At last he was thrown into the sea with a stone tied round his neck; but an angel helped the Lord’s chosen one, saved him from drowning, and commanded him to take refuge on a mountain in the desert near Caesarea.
Mamas spent forty days without food or drink; then he was miraculously given a staff by God, and, according to the command from on high, he struck the ground with it, and the holy Gospel came up out of the earth. After this the blessed one built a small church and lived there in fasting and prayer.
Soon the holy confessor was granted wonderful power over the forces of nature: the beasts that lived in the desert gathered at his dwelling and listened to the reading of the Gospel. The blessed one lived on the milk of wild goats and deer, and did not forget the needs of his neighbours either: he gave the poor cheese made from this milk.
Soon the report of the holy father’s God-pleasing life spread through all Caesarea. The alarmed governor sent a detachment of soldiers to seize him. The Lord’s chosen one went out to meet the soldiers, invited them in and entertained them kindly. After this Mamas revealed to his guests who he was, and gave himself up. The governor Alexander tortured the blessed one with terrible and prolonged torments, then threw him into the fire, but he remained unharmed; he threw him to the beasts to be torn apart, but they bowed down to him reverently and kissed him… These miracles “were enough to soften even a stone,” but the governor grew still harder and ordered one of his strong-armed subordinates to pierce him with an iron trident. Mortally wounded, the martyr with difficulty reached a cave outside the city, lay down, and fell asleep in the eternal sleep. Before the saint’s end “a voice came from on high, calling the struggler to the everlasting, unfading dwellings.”
The faithful buried the God-pleaser’s body at the very place of his repose.
