THE HOLY PRIESTLY

May 19

From the Prologue

They suffered for the Faith of Christ during the reign of Julian the Apostate in Asian Brussa. Junius, the imperial deputy, brought these saints to a hot spring and asked Patrick: "Who created these curative waters if not our gods Aesculapius and others whom we worship?" St. Patrick replied: "Your gods are demons and these waters, as everything else, were created by Christ the Lord, our God." Then the deputy asked: "And will your Christ save you if I toss you into this boiling water?" The saint replied: "If He wants. He is able to preserve me whole and unharmed, even though I desire that in these waters I become separated from this temporary life to live with Christ eternally; but let His Holy will be done on me, without which not even a hair does not fall from the head of men!" Hearing this, the deputy ordered that Patrick be tossed into the boiling water. Drops of boiling water splashed on all sides and bitterly scalded many of those present but the saint of God, on whose lips were continually in prayer, remained unharmed as though he were standing in cold water. Seeing this, the deputy became enraged out of embarrassment and ordered Patrick and his remaining three presbyters be beheaded with an ax. Then the innocent followers of Christ recited their prayers and placed their heads under the ax of the executioner. When they were beheaded, their joyful souls ascended into the illuminating kingdom of Christ to reign forever.




We confidently recommend our web service provider, Orthodox Internet Services: excellent personal customer service, a fast and reliable server, excellent spam filtering, and an easy to use comprehensive control panel.

St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas