The Martyrdom of the Holy Great-Martyr Demetrios (c. 306)
Feast Day: April 9/October 26
Introduction
St. Demetrios (Demetrius) of Thessaloniki is a very popular saint among Eastern Christians, one
of the military saints, alongside others like St. George and St. Theodore Tyro. This story also mentions
St. Nestor of Thessaloniki. Though this version does not mention it, other versions state that the
emperor commanded St. Nestor to be killed with his own sword. This version of the martyrdom comes
from a 10th-century manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, ms. grec 1485), though the story is the
same as references found in 9th-century writings (Photius of Constantinople, Anastasius the Librarian).
The story ends with the building of the first Church of St. Demetrios in 463, by Leontios, who was the Roman
sub-prefect of Illyricum, not its bishop. (The phrase "adorning the throne," in the text, is a bit
unclear.) A church dedicated to St. Demetrios, with an interesting hexagonal tomb area,
still stands on the same spot in Thessaloniki, as I can attest, although it has had to be rebuilt a
number of times due to fires and other catastrophes. The base of the current structure was built
around 629-634, with some pre-Iconoclastic mosaics remaining; however, it needed much renovation after
four centuries as a mosque, a large fire in 1917, and raids by the Nazis.
The Martyrdom of the Holy Great-Martyr Demetrios
- When Maximian the king, a superstitious and God-fighting man, and one fallen into the depth of
error, passed through the city of the Thessolanikians, those performing pious worship were persecuted,
and some of the servants of true wisdom were taken way, among whom was the most blessed Demetrios,
making himself notable and withdrawing from no danger or fear, having displayed a pure and immaculate
life from youth, and having the saving word in himself, and having passed it on to his neighbors and
teaching them with eagerness, and persuading and speaking, according to the apostolic commandment of
the blessed Paul, written to the holy Timothy and worthy of being set down: “Be present seasonably and
unseasonably” (2 Tim 4:2). This most-God-loving Demetrios wanted to gain every soul, and he made the
life-giving words clear and explained, so that the All-Wisdom of God’s word, through His fleshly
coming, would separate the man lost and dead in his own iniquities from error, and cleanse him from
all ignorance and all darkness, and make light dawn and bring about a day of freedom in the souls of
those receiving Him, preserving righteousness, equity, peace, love, hope, eternal life, ripping
them away from temporal things, and bestowing the down-payment of eternal and incorruptible things,
providing the resurrection from the dead and the return to paradise.
- Therefore, with many people approaching him because of these things and his great fame,
certain people, commanded to make a search of them, being officers of death, having gathered the
blessed one, brought him, like the greatest prey, to the God-fighter Maximian, thinking to make
themselves better before the king, if they showed themselves to have forgotten care for every
Christian; and he was in the stadium of the city, approaching the goddess for those who were to fight
in single combat; for, there, there was an enclosed place prepared by him, with some planks in a
circle, which was to receive those fighting against each other for a spectacle; for he had delight in
seeing the out-pouring of human blood.
- But he did not have this pleasure without thought and care; for he was disposed toward a
certain single-fighter by the name of Lyaius, who had destroyed many, fully using the power and great
size of his body and having a steadier practice in slaying, through care and custom. Since all feared
this one and not one appeared to oppose him, Maximian held him among the first and was seen to love him.
- And, looking upon him pleasurably, he applauded and wondered and honored the excellence of the
man, like some great beast. And when he was near the stadium, then those gathering the holy Demetrios
came up to him. And the king, learning that he was a Christian, this being a wonder to him,
commanded the blessed Demetrios—there being a public bath near the stadium—to be guarded in the vaults
of the furnaces. And he, sitting down, and Lyaius entering, called the desired one to fight in single
combat with him, setting forth gifts and promising much.
- And a certain youth of the people, by the name of Nestor, being before his beard’s first
bloom, leaping down from the steps above and disrupting the single combat with Lyaius, stood, as if
astounded, with Maximian calling him—the one leaping down there—to himself, and saying, to counsel
him: “I know that a scarcity of goods prompted you to construct fantasies of this, in order to obtain
heaps of wealth or remove yourself from distressing poverty through a change of life; but I, through
pity for your stature and youth, by which you are adorned, will give you goods equivalent and
sufficient to a single attempt; and you will depart, having both life and goods. And do not oppose
yourself to Lyaius, since he has already defeated many more powerful than you.”
- Hearing these things, Nestor neither seized the king’s love-of-honor nor feared the praise of
Lyaius, but answered the king: “I do not desire goods, nor did I come to this fight for them, but so
that I might prove myself better than Lyaius.” Forhe was not desirous of life or wealth, giving way
or retiring before the preeminent glory of Lyaius. Immediately, therefore, the king and those
preparing Lyaius for this were struck with anger because of the things said, not enduring the
pretension of Nestor. And the king, turning away, cried out and emboldened Lyaius, and he hastened to
show himself worthy of the royal judgment. And, being in the throes, finding an occasion,
Lyaius himself was forthwith defeated and gave a final confusion to the king.
- Whence, not responding to the things proposed and the goods promised to Nestor, he likewise
leapt down from his chair and, sullen, returned to his own halls. But, some giving him suspicions
about Demetrios—that he was responsible for Lyaius’ slaughter, arming Nestor against him with
prayers—being spurred in a moment and, as is custom with God-fighters, reading omens, as not needing
good counsel, he then came to the stadium, and he ordered him to be destroyed with spears, in the
place where he was enclosed; and thus the most blessed one fulfilled the noble confession’s witness.
And, his all-holy relics being despised by the destroyers, the more pious men among the brothers
there, taking them at night, so as to escape notice, hid them in the mounds which they ripped from the
midst of the earth, just as he was, so that he would not suffer damage from one of the blood-sucking
animals. But no one, after these things, through care, came to transfer the body of the blessed one,
but it retained its form.
- And from the unspeakable healing wonders and graces performed in the place to those calling,
with faith, upon the energy of the martyr for aid, Leontios, the most God-loving man, adorning the
throne of the Illyrican province, the house surrounding the all-holy relics being all-together small
for the figure, and buried in rubbish, and squished by the walls of the public bath and the
surrounding stadium, extending the clearings with wider areas, raised a house of prayer, in the
city of the Thessalonikians, bringing the house of prayer and the city to a more ready obedience
through the more radiant furnishings of the temple, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom to the Father
with the Holy Spirit be glory, honor, power unto the ages of ages.
Source: Hippolyte Delehaye, Les légendes grecques des
saints militaires (Paris: Libraire Alphonse Picard et Fils, 1909), 259-264.
Introduction Source: Hippolyte Delehaye, Les légendes grecques des
saints militaires (Paris: Libraire Alphonse Picard et Fils, 1909), 103-104.
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