The Holy Martyrs Antonii, John and Eustathii
Commemorated on April 14
The Holy Martyrs
Antonii, John and Eustathii suffered for Christ under the Lithuanian
GreatPrince Ol'gerd (1345-1377). The prince was married to the Vitebsk Orthodox
princess Maria Yaroslavna (+ 1346). He himself was baptised and during the
lifetime of his spouse he allowed the preaching of Christianity. Two brothers
by birth, Nezhilo and Kumets, received holy Baptism from the clergy of the
princess the priest Nestor, and they received the names Antonii and John. And
at the request of Maria Yaroslavna there was even built at Vilna an Orthodox
church.
But after the death
of his spouse, prince Ol'gerd began openly to support the pagan priests of the
fire-worshippers, who started a persecution against Christians. Saints John and
Antonii endeavoured not to display their belonging to the Christians, but still
they did not observe the pagan customs, they did not cut their hair as the
pagans did, and on fastdays they did not eat forbidden foods.
The prince soon
became suspicious of the brothers in the renunciation of faith, so he
interrogated them and they confessed themselves Christians. Then they demanded
them to eat meat (it was a fast day). The holy brothers refused, and the prince
locked them up in prison. The brothers spent an entire year incarcerated. John
took fright at the impending tortures and declared, that he would fulfill all
the demands of the GreatPrince. The delighted Ol'gerd released both brothers
and drew them near to himself.
But Antonii did not
betray Christ. When he again refused to eat meat on a fast day, the prince
again locked him up in prison and subjected him to brutal tortures. The
renouncing brother remained free, but as a traitor not only did the Christians
not associate with him, but neither did the pagans. Repenting of his sin, John
went to the priest Nestor and asked him to intercede before his brother, so
that he would forgive him and consort with him. "When he openly confesses
Christ, everything betwixt us wilt be reconciled", – answered the martyr
Antonii. Once, serving the prince at the bath, Saint John spoke privately with
him about his reconciliation with the Church. Ol'gerd did not display any anger
and gave him to understand, that this was his personal matter and that he could
believe in Christ, but conduct himself like all the pagans. Then Saint John
confessed himself a Christian in the presence of numerous courtiers. They beat
him fiercely with canes and dispatched him to his brother in prison. The
martyrs met with joy in prison and on that day did partake of the Holy
Mysteries.
A throng of the
people approached the prison so as to view the new confessor. By their
preaching the brothers converted many to Christ. The prison was transformed
into a Christian teaching-place. The frightened pagan-priests demanded the
execution of the brothers, but now already they did not fear temporal parting.
On the morning of 14 April 1347 the Martyr Antonii after receiving the Holy
Mysteries was hung on a tree. This oak, considered by the pagans as sacred,
became from that time truly sacred for Orthodox Christians.
The hopes of the
pagan priests, that with the death of Saint Antonii the preaching about Christ
would stop, were not justified. A multitude of the people as before gathered at
the walls of the prison, where Saint John was situated. On 24 April 1347 they
strangled and hung him dead upon the same oak. The venerable bodies of both
martyrs were buried by Christians in a church of Saint Nicholas the
Wonderworker.
A third sufferer for
faith in Christ was Kruglets. At Baptism the priest Nestor gave him the name
Eustathii. He was a relative of the holy brothers. Within the retinue of the
GreatPrince of Lithuania, Kruglets stood out by his comeliness, valour and
bravery, but even moreso in mind and virtue of soul. A favourite of Ol'gerd, he
could count on an excellent future. But one time he also like the martyred
brothers refused to eat meat at the festal table. Saint Eustathii openly
declared, that he was a Christian and would not eat meat because of the
Nativity fast. Hereupon they began to beat him with iron rods, but the youth
let out not a groan. The prince tried refining the torture. There was a bitter
frost. Ol'gerd gave orders to strip the martyr naked, take him out on the
street and to pour icy water in his mouth. But this did not break the spirit of
the saint. Then they broke his ankle-bones, and tore off from his head the hair
with the skin and cut off his ears and nose. Saint Eustathii endured the
torments with such gladness and courage, that the very torturers themselves
were astounded by this Divine power, which strengthened him. After the torture
the martyr Eustathii was sentenced to death and hung on that oak (+ 13 December
1347), where earlier Saints John and Antonii received a martyr's death.
During the course of
3 days it was not permitted to take down the body of the martyr, and a column
of cloud protected it from birds and beasts of prey. A church was afterwards
built on the hill where the holy martyrs suffered. The trinity of venerable passion-bearers
glorified the True God worshipped in the Holy Trinity, Father and Son and Holy
Spirit – wherefore the church was consecrated in the Name of the MostHoly
Trinity. The prestol' (altar-table) was secured on the base of the sacred oak,
on which the martyrs accepted death. Soon their relics were uncovered
undecayed. Already in the year 1364 the Constantinople Patriarch Philotheos
(1354-1355, 1362-1376) sent to the Monk Sergei of Radonezh (+ 1392, Comm. 25
September) a cross with the relics of the holy martyrs. The Church established
the celebration of memory of all three martyrs on a single day, 14 April.
The act of the holy
martyrs held immense significance for all the Western frontier. Vilensk
monastery in the Name of the Holy Trinity, at which the holy relics are kept,
became a stronghold of Orthodoxy and peace on this frontier. In the year 1915
during the invasion of the Germans, these relics as very precious in the Baltic
frontier were taken to the heart of Russia – Moscow.
Within the memory of
believers at Vilnius and to this day there live sorrowful recollections about
parting from the holy martyrs and joyful memories – about the solemn meeting of
the relics of the holy passion-bearers in 1946 at the Vilensk Holy-Spirit
monastery. The date of their return – 13 (26) July – from that time is
solemnly noted annually at the monastery.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
