The Holy Martyr Christopher
Concerning this all-glorious martyr, much that is strange and unusual has been said, ranging from his having the head of a dog to his origins in a country of cannibals. When a guardsman took him captive in battle, he lacked the ability to speak. He prayed to God, and God sent him an angel, who told him: “Be of good cheer, O Reprebius” (that was his first name)—and then touched his lips, and thereby transmitted to him the ability to speak.
After this, when he arrived in a certain city, he began to rebuke those who were persecuting the Christians. For this, a certain Bacchus beat him; but in reply the saint told Bacchus that he was accepting the beating with humility for the sake of the commandment of Christ; but that if he were to give himself over to anger, neither Bacchus himself, nor even the power of the emperor, to which he might turn, would be of any avail.
Soon afterwards, two hundred soldiers came to arrest him and take him to the emperor; but when they were on their way, a staff, completely dry, which was in the hands of the holy one, miraculously bloomed. And later in the journey, when the soldiers lacked sufficient bread, he multiplied it abundantly. This great miracle amazed the soldiers, and they believed in Christ and, together with the holy one, were baptized by the Bishop of Antioch, the holy Hieromartyr Babylas, who changed the name of the holy one from Reprebius to Christopher.
When the saint was brought before the emperor, the latter was stricken with fear and unexpectedly recoiled; but then, recovering himself, he bethought himself how he might compel the holy one to renounce Christ. At first the emperor sought to accomplish this not through violent means, but rather through cunning, by trying to alter the holy one’s disposition and then induce him, by means of blandishments, to fulfill his will. To this end, he ordered that two women be summoned—harlots with beautiful faces, willing to give themselves over to the carnal union—who through their seductive conversations aroused in young men an overwhelming, mindless desire for fornication. The name of one of these women was Callinicia, and the name of the other Aquilina. The emperor ordered them to go into the holy one and to instill in him sundry tempting thoughts, as was their wont, so that, moved by illicit love for them, he would agree to renounce his faith in Christ and offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. However, the holy Christopher began to teach these women the Christian Faith, and by his words converted them from polytheism. When they returned to the emperor, they confessed themselves Christians, and were therefore given over to cruel tortures. And having thus endured suffering for their faith in Christ, they received crowns of martyrdom.
The emperor was enraged at these women. He then commanded that the holy Christopher be brought into his presence, and began to mock him for his unusual appearance; but in reply, the holy one called him the receptacle of the devil’s work, for such was the meaning of the emperor’s name, Decius.
After this, the emperor condemned to death the two hundred soldiers who had been sent to fetch the holy Christopher and had been baptized with him, since they came to the saint and in the emperor’s very sight paid him homage. The emperor then commanded that their heads be cut off and their bodies incinerated. The holy Christopher he ordered enclosed in a copper vessel and affixed to it with nails, which was then heated until it was red-hot. However, while this was carried out, the holy one remained unscathed. Without experiencing suffering either from the flame or the nails, he stood in the heated vessel as if he were in a cool, pleasant place. To many of those present, it seemed to be a delusion; but to the believers the holy one was completely justified. He joyfully related to them that during the torture, he beheld someone, very lofty of stature and comely of mien, arrayed in robes of white, who surpassed the sun in the light which issued forth from him, and had upon his head a shining crown. He was surrounded by a multitude of warriors, with whom some men, dark and fœtid, were fighting, attempting to seize the saint and carry him off. But this dread leader looked at them wrathfully, and with his gaze brought them to confusion and stunned this hostile army; but to Christopher he imparted the strength to endure the torture without harm. Hearing such an account, and seeing the holy one completely unscathed, many of the people believed him and converted to Christ. They then removed the holy one from the heated vessel, for which they were hacked to pieces by the emperor’s executioners. After this, the torturers tied a stone to his neck, and cast him down a well; but an angel drew him forth from it. Then, they put on him a garment of bronze, greatly heated, and, finally, cut off his head with a sword.
The memory of the holy Christopher and the other holy martyrs who suffered with him is celebrated in Kyparission on the day of his repose, not long after the day of the martyrdom of the holy greatmartyr George.
Translated by Xenia (Jacqueline) Nenchin from The Lives of the Saints in the Russian Language, according to the Menology of Saint Dmitri of Rostov, Vol. IX (May) (Moscow: Synodal Press, 1908), pp. 289-291. Copyright © 2003. All rights reserved.