Holy Martyrs Demetrius, His Wife Evanthia and Their Son Demetrian (I)

The holy Martyrs Demetrius, his wife Evanthia and their son Demetrian. The holy Martyr Demetrius was governor of Scepsis on the Hellespont at the time when Cornelius the Centurion (commemorated 13 September) came there preaching the Gospel. Saint Cornelius converted many of the city’s inhabitants to Christianity, for which the pagans seized him and brought him to the governor Demetrius. The latter tried for a long time in vain to persuade the Lord’s chosen one to blaspheme the true God, and at last, powerless, he began to torture him. Cornelius bravely endured the torments, and at the same time urged the head of the city to abandon the false pagan faith and turn to Christianity. When the martyr was brought into the idol-temple, by prayer he destroyed the altar together with the idols standing in it. All this convinced Demetrius of the almighty power of Cornelius’s God, and he was baptised with his whole family. For confessing the true faith the pagans shut the newly converted up in prison and starved them to death.