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The Holy Martyrs Trophymos and Phalos Commemorated on March 16 The Holy Martyrs
Trophymos and Phalos, by birth brothers and presbyters, served in Carian
Laodiceia. During the time of a persecution under the emperor Diocletian
(284-305) and his co-emperor Maximian (284-305), the brothers were taken under
guard and brought before the governor Asclepiodotos. He ordered the holy
brothers to be beaten with stones, but the stones, which they threw at the
saints, flew back again and struck those that threw them. After a second
interrogation the holy brothers were sentenced to crucifixion. Going to execution,
they glorified God in that they were found worthy of the Saviour's death on a
cross. The wondrous witnesses to God hanging on crosses continued their
preaching, and their brave mother stood at the foot of the crosses. A certain
Jewess, having bowed to the saints, cried out: "Blessed is the mother,
having given birth to such sons". When the martyrs gave up their spirits
to God, the prison guard said that he saw the souls of the holy brothers being
carried upwards to heaven in the company of three Angels. All night the people
stayed with the bodies of the holy martyrs. And in the morning the wife of the
torturer Asclepiodotos came to the place of execution with her perfumed
bejeweled veil. She told the people, that she saw by night in a dream the holy
martyrs and the Angels, sent for the punishment of her husband. © 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos. |
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