Venerable Zoticus the Presbyter, Feeder of Orphans (IV)

Saint Zoticus the Presbyter, the Feeder of Orphans, in the world a noble and wealthy Roman, was a courtier close to Constantine the Great (306–337). When the king moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople, Zoticus followed the emperor, but soon he renounced worldly honours, received the rank of priest and entered the service of God. The saint turned his own house into a shelter for widows and orphans, for which he was named “the Feeder of Orphans”. At that time leprosy was spreading in Constantinople. Saint Zoticus asked King Constantine for money and built a hospital, where he cared for the lepers and comforted them.

After the death of King Constantine his son Constantius (337–361), a follower of the Arian heresy, ascended the throne. He was told that the presbyter Zoticus had received a great sum from the late emperor. When the saint was questioned about this, he showed the lawless ones the hospital and the shelter for the infirm. The enraged Constantius ordered the blessed one to be tied to horses and dragged over rubble. His flesh all torn and his body mutilated, the saint committed his soul to the Lord in suffering. At the place of his death a healing spring gushed forth.