St. Haralambos

 

St. Haralambos, Bishop of Magnesia is one of the oldest saints we have on record in the Orthodox Church, and perhaps one of the oldest relics we have as well. Its not very often that the witness of a saint causes so many to mass convert, especially those of his torturers.  But that is exactly what happened when St. Haralambos was tortured and martyred for the faith in 202 AD.  At the time of his martyrdom he was 103 years old and very aged for a saint in his day.  St. Haralambos was the bishop of Magnesia a city in modern day Turkey in Asia Minor, where he preached and lived the gospel on a daily basis.  St. Haralambos eventually caught the eye of Lucian and Lucius, two of the leaders of the area in which Haralambos lived. When he was brought before them to stand trial, he refused to accept worship to the pagan idols and tortured.  This torture included scraping off all of his skin painfully.  He is quoted as saying, "Thank you, my brethren, for scraping off the old body and renewing my soul for new and eternal life."  St. Haralambos was then continuously tortured with iron hooks.  Two soldiers and three women were converted to the faith because of this act.  Lucius who became extremely distraught and angry over this seized the hooks himself but his arms were cut off. Lucian's head was twisted backwards.  Both of them prayed to the saint to heal them, and after their miraculous healing, converted to the faith.  St. Haralambos was sent to the Emperor himself Septimius Severus, where he was to endure even harsher tortures. St. Haralambos was sentenced to death, but gave up the spirit before the executioner could even swing his blade. Gallina the Emperor's daughter converted to Christianity and buried the saint herself. 

By St. Haralambos' actions, he was able to witness the truth of Christ at the highest level in the Empire.  Like St. Theodore the Commander, he lived what he preached.  However the miracles of St. Haralambos do not end at his death. Like so many of the saints, miracles have occured after his death through his relics that now reside in Meteora in Greece. Through study and research that I conducted before writing this particular blog, Zakynthos was saved from the black death in 1728, the city of Epirus was saved from the plague in 1812, Avra was saved from disease in 1930, and Mount Athos, the holy mountain itself was saved from a devastating illness by his intercessions in 1908. While we do not know the day or the hour that this current pandemic will end, perhaps if we pray to St. Haralambos for his intercessions, this pandemic of Covid-19 will subside sooner rather than later. We pray that even if it is not the will of God to end this pandemic soon, that St. Haralambos will intercede for us and that we might be found worthy of Jesus Christ. 

Amen.