Bulgarian
English
† 3 Неделя след Пасха на св. Мироносици. Света преподобномъченица Пелагия ап. Деян. 6:1-7 (с. 16), лит. ев. Мк 15:43-16:8 (Тип. с. 462)
Св. прпмчца Пелагия пострадала през III в. в град Тарс по време на гонението на християните от император Диоклетиан. Необикновено красивата девойка приела светото кръщение тайно от родителите си. Тъй като не пожелала да се омъжи за езически княз, тя понесла жестоки мъчения, но не се отрекла от християнската вяра и била закриляна от Бога.
Pelagia of Tarsus
The holy and glorious Virgin-Martyr Saint Pelagia of Tarsus was a resident of the city of Tarsus [1] in Asia Minor during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305). She is commemorated May 4.
According to the tradition of the Church, the son of Diocletian fell in love with the holy maiden, wishing to seek her as his own. When he made advances towards her, Pelagia replied that she could not love him, having sworn herself to Christ, the Bridegroom. In passion, anger, and sorrow, Diocletian's son killed himself. Pelagia was then sent to Rome by her pagan mother, where Diocletian himself asked her to become his wife. She refused, and seeing the cruelty of the tyrannical emperor, she called him insane. The emperor had her burned at the stake, and as her flesh melted like wax, the incense of myrrh emitted from her holy flesh, perfuming the city.
The pagans sent four lions to surround her bones, but instead of consuming them, they protected her remains from vultures until Bishop Linus recovered them. After the legalization of Christianity, Constantine the Great built a church on the site of those remains in her honor.
Virgin-Martyr Pelagia of Tarsus in Asia Minor (287); Hieromartyr Albian (Olbian), Bishop of Anaea in Asia Minor, and his disciples (284-303); Martyrs Aphrodisius, Leontius, Anthony, Valerian, Macrobius, and 60 others, monks at Scythopolis of Palestine (beg. of 4th c.); Hieromartyr Silvanus of Gaza, bishop, and with him 40 martyrs (311); Saint Hilary the Wonder-worker of the desert; Saint Nicephorus of Medikion, abbot and founder of Medikion Monastery (813) Saint Athanasios of Corinth, bishop (10th-11th c.); Hieromartyr Porphyrius (250); Saint Curcodomus, a deacon in Rome sent to help St Peregrinus (2nd c.); Hieromartyr Erasmus, Bishop of Formia in Campania, and 20,000 martyrs with him (303); Martyrs Florian and 40 companions, at Lorsch, Austria (304); Saint Monica of Tagaste, the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo (387); Saint Nepotianus, nephew of St Heliodorus, Bishop of Altino near Venice in Italy (395); Saint Venerius of Milan, second bishop of Milan, a loyal supporter of St John Chrysostom (409); Saint Conleth, maker of sacred vessels, first Bishop of Kildare (ca.519); Saint Anthony du Rocher, disciple of St Benedict and companion of St Maurus in his mission to France, founder of the monastery of Saint Julian in Tours (6th c.); St. Æthelred, king of Mercia and monk (716); Saint Sacerdos of Limoges, Bishop of Limoges (720); Saint Gotthard of Hildesheim, became Bishop of Hildesheim in 1022 and did much to spread the Faith (1038); Saint Theodosia (Fedosia), Princess of Vladimir, (wife of Jaroslav Vsevolodovich; mother of St. Alexander Nevsky) (1244); Saint Nicephorus (the Solitary, the Hesychast) of Mount Athos, teacher of St. Gregory Palamas (before 1300); The Alfanov brothers of Novgorod: Saints Nicetas, Cyril, Nicephorus, Clement, and Isaac of Novgorod (14th-15th c.), founders of the Sokolnitzki Monastery in 1389; New Hieromartyr Dimitri, Archbishop of Gdov (1938); New Hieromartyr John, priest, (1942); New Hieromartyr Nicholas, deacon, (1943); New Hieromartyr Archpriest Vasily Martysz (1945); Other Commemorations: Translation of the relics of the Righteous Lazarus and Saint Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles; Icon of the Mother of God "Staro Rus" Old Russian (1570).