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During the reign of the impious Roman Emperor Severus , with the spread of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, the worship of demons began to decline and idolatry itself ceased. At this time, in the city of Magnesia , lived the holy Bishop Charalampus. He guided people on the path to salvation and taught them the word of God. He said: "My Emperor Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, sent apostles and prophets so that people, enlightened by their holy preaching, would steadfastly follow the path of truth. Your Emperor Severus, however, forces people through cruel torments to offer sacrifices to soulless idols and thereby consigns their souls to eternal death." Jesus Christ, my King, through the prophets and apostles, has given us the words of heavenly life—and through this preaching, our enemy is cast out, the serpent is trampled, unbelief is transformed into faith, demonic teaching perishes, and all enemy power falls in its cruel fall. Therefore, it is better to believe the words that guide us onto the path to eternal life than to stand for a cause that brings eternal destruction."
After such words, the holy bishop was seized by the infidels and presented for torture and trial to the hegemon Lucian and the military commander Lucius.
When the holy martyr Charalampius repeated the same thing before them, the hegemon said to him:
"You speak reckless words from the excess of your heart, not distinguishing good from evil. But, venerable elder, do not think that you will not be tormented for these words. Therefore, heed our advice, behave as befits an elder and, after careful consideration, approach the gods with a sacrifice, lest we inflict upon you such torment as you cannot even imagine."
Saint Charalampus answered:
“I have already grown old and am finishing this temporary life; I will never disdain the heavenly blessings that await me.
Then the judges, enraged, began to prepare everything for cruel torments, and said to him:
"Sacrifice to the gods, wicked man!" Saint Charalampius replied:
"I will not offer sacrifice to demons. After all, you see that the demons you revere tremble and shudder before the sign of Christ's cross."
After this, the judges ordered Charalampius's sacred vestments to be stripped from him, and they began to torture this angelic man naked. After hanging the holy martyr, two of the servants began to tear his body with iron claws, and continued this until they had flayed him from head to toe.
Saint Charalampus, completely tormented, spoke thus to those who tortured him: “I thank you, brothers, that by scraping my mortal body, you have renewed my spirit, which is striving to pass into a new, eternal life.”
After these words from the saint, both soldiers who had tortured him were overcome with terror and said to the judges: "The dishonor you inflict on this man turns into his honor, and his torment into consolation. Is he not Christ himself? Having assumed the likeness of an old man, has he not come to Asia to convert all its inhabitants? His body, torn by iron claws, becomes harder than iron, so that the claws penetrate him, yet he himself remains unharmed."
When the soldiers said this, the hegemon, gnashing his teeth, exclaimed: "O evil slaves and most lazy in fulfilling orders! Without doing what you are ordered, you still defend one condemned to torture!"
The soldiers who had tortured Saint Charalambos finally became completely exhausted and began to openly confess and glorify the power of Christ, which had so strengthened the sufferer, and therefore they were both immediately beheaded for the name of the Lord; their names were Porphyrius and Vaptos.
Three women who witnessed the martyr's suffering also came to believe in Christ. They began to glorify His most holy and all-powerful name and were tortured for it.
After this, the commander, Lucius, rose from his place and, taking up the executioner's weapon, began to torture Saint Charalampus himself, cruelly lacerating his entire body. And immediately his arms became detached from the elbows, as if severed by a sword, and, clinging to the martyr's body, hung there.
Lucius, without arms, fell to the ground and began to cry out: "This man is a sorcerer! Help me, hegemon!"
The hegemon, approaching and seeing the hands of his commander hanging on the body of the martyr, spat in the face of Saint Charalampius, and at that moment the hegemon’s head turned and his face began to look back.
Then the Magnesians, seized with great terror, began to pray to the holy martyr, saying: "Leave your anger and avert God's vengeance! After all, you have been commanded not to repay evil with evil."
Saint Charalambos responded: "As the Lord God lives, there is no malice in my heart, nor flattery on my tongue! You see for yourselves how Christ God punished these lawless rulers. He will grant us eternal life, but He will destroy the wicked."
Then they all cried out to the Lord: "Lord, do not destroy us, who have sinned against You! Behold, You have now, O God, punished our princes, in order to lead us to the light and make us worthy of eternal life."
And a great multitude of people believed in Christ here.
After this, Lucius said: “Man of God, Angel of the Lord, have mercy on me, who suffer greatly; my hands are weighing you down, hanging on your body: return them to their place, then you too will be freed from this burden, and I will be healed of my illness, and if you do this, I will believe in your God.”
Then the saint, pouring out his prayer before the Lord, cried out: “Baruch, Manuid, Maron-Afa, Rabboni, that is, blessed, God is with us, our Lord, who took on our flesh, my Teacher, look upon the humility of those in chains, free these judges of mine from the bonds of punishment and heal me, Your completely wounded confessor!”
And then a voice was heard from heaven, saying: “Charalampius, the earthly lamp that illuminates the heavens, the servant of the Angels, the companion of the prophets, the friend of the apostles, the companion of the martyrs and worthy of My conversation, I have heard your prayers and accepted the words of your lips, may this prayer of yours be for the healing of these sick people.”
And immediately Lucius and the hegemon Lucian were healed of their illnesses.
Then Lucius, falling at the feet of the holy martyr, began to ask for baptism, which he soon received, and the hegemon stopped the persecution of Christians: “until,” he said, “I inform the king about all this.”
After this, many, coming to the saint, after confessing their sins, were baptized, and those sick with various ailments received healing.
The hegemon Lucian, having gone to the Emperor Severus, who was then in Antioch of Pisidia , told him of all that had happened in Magnesia: “A certain man from the society of Galileans has come to us,” he said, “he began to turn everyone away from the gods, and to heal the sick; the commander Lucius, having been healed, believed in Christ, and almost all of Magnesia accepted his faith; I, having also recovered, have come here to report all this to your royal majesty.”
Hearing this, Severus, filled with anger, exclaimed: "O eternal gods, disgraced by impious people! Why has the teaching of these false people spread so widely throughout the earth!"
And immediately he sent three hundred inhuman and fierce soldiers to seize Saint Charalambos. He ordered them to first torture the saint and then bring him from Magnesia to Antioch.
The soldiers, returning to the king, took the martyr of Christ with them; they drove a sharp iron nail into his body, and wove a rope into his rather long beard, and, wrapping it around his neck, they dragged the saint along the way to the king.
And when they had already traveled fifteen stades from Magnesia , the horse on the right turned to the soldiers and spoke clearly in a human voice: "O three hundred soldiers, you thrice-wicked servants of the devil! Do you not see Christ God and the Holy Spirit present with this man? Why then are you doing all this to him? O hard-hearted ones! Free him whom you cannot bind, so that you yourselves may be freed from bonds."
The soldiers were quite frightened by such a human speech spoken by a horse, however, fulfilling the royal command, they continued to drag the holy martyr to Antioch.
At this time, the devil, disguised as an old man, appeared to King Severus and said to him: "Woe is me, King! I myself am the ruler of Scythia, but a certain man named Charalampius, a great sorcerer, has come to my land and turned my entire army away from me. The people have all joined my legions. And so, abandoned by all, I have come to warn you, lest something similar happen to you."
No sooner had the devil spoken than Saint Charalambos, dragged by soldiers, was brought before the emperor. The emperor, seeing him, immediately plunged three sharp stakes into his chest, then ordered firewood brought, lit, and the martyr scorched by the flames little by little, so that he would not die immediately but endure the torment for a longer time.
When Saint Charalambos was being tortured for a long time, a certain woman who was standing there at the time, out of a desire to please the king, took hot coals and sprinkled them on the head, face and beard of the martyr, saying: “Die, old man, die; it is better for you to die than to seduce us with your flattering teaching.”
This woman was the king's concubine. Her sister said to her, "Or do you, wretched one, not fear God? By fulfilling the king's will, you anger God. The North will not help you when Christ is angry with you."
And turning to the martyr, she said: “Man of God, your old age is honorable, and God is with you, in Whom I also wish to believe and be delivered from my sins.”
After this, when the fire had already gone out, and the servants who had tortured the saint were exhausted, although the martyr himself remained unharmed and completely healthy, the king said: “Stop torturing this man: let him answer my questions.”
And when the holy martyr was brought closer to the king, Severus said to him:
"Charalampius, while conversing early this morning with the Scythian king, I became angry and blasphemed you; but having now endured this torment, you will remain in our favor if you only answer what I ask you. How old are you?"
Saint Charalampus answered:
“I spent a lot of time in this vain life: I lived one hundred and thirteen years.
"How is it, having lived so many years," said Severus, "that you still haven't come to know the immortal gods?" The holy martyr replied:
“Having lived for many years, Tsar, I acquired great knowledge: having come to know Christ, the One True God, I believed in Him.
The king then asked him whether he had a wife or not.
The saint answered:
"I have acquired for myself the Heavenly Virgin, that is, the kingdom of my Christ; but on earth I had no wife." Then the king asked him:
- Can you resurrect the dead?
“This is not in human power,” answered the saint, “but in the power of Christ.”
Then the king ordered the bringing of a man who had been possessed by an evil spirit for a long time; the devil had tormented this man for thirty-five years: wishing to destroy him, the spirit of evil sometimes drove the unfortunate man through deserts and mountains, sometimes threw him into thickets, swamps, and crevices of the earth.
When this man was brought close to the saint, smelling the saint's fragrance, he immediately cried out: "I beg you, servant of God, do not torment me before the time! But command me with a word that I come out, and if you wish, I will tell you how I entered this man."
The saint agreed, and the devil told the following: “This man wanted to rob his neighbor, but he said to himself: if I do not first kill his heir, then I will not be able to seize his wealth, and, having killed his neighbor, he already wanted to seize his inheritance; seeing him in such a state, I entered into him, and now I have been living in him for thirty-five years.”
Then Saint Charalampus said to the devil: “Get out of this man and do not harm him any more.”
And immediately the devil left him, and the possessed man became healthy.
After this the king exclaimed:
– Truly great is the God of Christians!
Three days later, a certain young man died; the king, having ordered the dead man to be brought to him, said to Saint Charalampus:
– Pray to your God that this dead man will rise again.
The saint, having prayed, raised the dead man, and many people believed in Christ; the king himself was amazed, seeing such miracles.
At that time, there was a certain eparch named Crispus with the king; in a council with Severus, he said to him: “Wipe this man off the face of the earth – he is a sorcerer and works his miracles through witchcraft.”
The king, believing the words of Crispus and changing his previous good feeling towards the martyr, said to him:
- Charalampius, make a sacrifice to the gods, and you will escape the hands of the murderer.
The saint answered:
– Torments bring me great benefit: as much as my body is covered with wounds, so much my spirit rejoices within me.
Then the king, enraged, ordered that stones be thrown into the mouth of the saint, and those who beat him said: “Submit to the king, so that you do not die without guilt.”
Finally, the king said to the soldiers: “Take burning torches and light his beard and scorch his face.”
And so, when the soldiers brought torches to the saint’s beard, a large fiery flame came out of it and, rushing towards the people standing around, scorched up to seventy wicked people.
Seeing this, Severus, filled with rage, said: “The Scythian king told me the truth, that Charalampius is a sorcerer and that he also wants to turn my army away from me.”
And then, turning to his nobles, he asked them:
– Could you tell me who this Christ is that Charalampy believes in?
“Christ is the Son of Mary,” Crispus answered him, “He was born of her from adultery.”
Then a certain man named Aristarchus said to Crispus:
- Don't talk nonsense; where did you hear this secret and how do you know who Mary and Christ were?
To this Crisp said angrily:
- Are you wiser than me?
"Yes, I know more than you," Aristarchus replied. Then King Severus exclaimed:
- Oh, evil man! Do you want to contradict me?
Aristarchus replied to this:
“No, Tsar, I do not wish to contradict you or anyone else; I am only defending Christ.
After this, the king, burning with rage, took his bow, drew it, and, shooting an arrow upward, said: "Christ, if you live in heaven, come down to us and pitch your tents on earth. Behold, I am preparing war against you and have a large army to rise up against you. So, come down to earth and stand against me. If you do not come down, I will overthrow the heavens, extinguish the sun, and seize you with my own hands."
As the king so brazenly and shamelessly uttered such blasphemies against the Lord Christ, the earth shook, and great fear fell upon everyone. The enraged Lord shook the earth like a leaf; and terrible peals of thunder were heard from above, and lightning was visible, so that all who stood there seemed frozen with fear. The king and the eparch Crispus, bound by some invisible bonds, rose from the ground and seemed to hang in the air.
Then the king cried out to the martyr: "Charalampius, all this has happened because of my sins, and I am justly suffering this torment; but you pray to your God that I may be delivered from this torment, and I will glorify His name and yours throughout the city, for I am seized with great terror from your Christ."
At this time, the Tsar's daughter, Galina, approached them and said to Severus: "My father, no one can resist God: for for Christians He is the hope, but for the wicked, He is the destroyer. Believe in Him, and He will preserve you and free you from those invisible bonds with which you are now bound by Him: He who bound you is the eternal and almighty God."
Falling before the holy martyr, Blessed Galina said: “I beg you, servant of God, pray to the Lord Christ and with your prayer free my father from these invisible bonds.”
And as soon as Saint Charalampus had prayed, this terrible curse of God ceased, and the king, freed from execution along with the eparch, stood up on the ground and said: "Lord of heaven and Creator of the earth, have mercy on me! You who dwell in heaven, look down mercifully upon the earth!"
After this, the king, together with the eparch and all his nobles, went to his palace and did not leave there for three days, all the time thinking about the wrath of God and the terrible warning that the Lord had just given.
At this time, the king's daughter, Galina, had a vision, which she reported to Saint Charalambos: "It seemed to me," she said, "that I was standing in some richly watered area; and suddenly I saw a large fenced garden, in which all kinds of fragrant trees were planted; in the midst of them grew a beautiful vineyard, and in this vineyard stood a tall cedar, at the roots of which flowed a spring. Near this place stood a stern guard, not allowing anyone to enter this garden. Nearby, I saw my father and the eparch Crispus, whom the guardian of this garden was driving away from this place with his fiery sword. At that time, I was seized with great fear and only prayed that this guard would allow me to remain there. At that time, he said to me: "Come here, and I will honorably carry you on my shoulders into this garden." "And when I was there, under the cedar, by the spring, I heard someone say: 'This place has been given to you and those like you.' This is the vision I had, and now I beg you," Galina concluded, "tell me what it means."
Then Saint Charalambos said to her: "Your dream signifies the following: the abundance of water is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the enclosed garden is paradise. The vineyard signifies the repose of the righteous in paradise, and the fragrant trees are the faces of the holy angels. The tall cedar signifies the glory of Christ on the cross, and the spring is eternal life, granted by the cross to the human race. And the guardian who took you upon His shoulders is the Lord Christ, Who, having left ninety-nine sheep on the mountains, began to search for the lost sheep and, having found it, took it upon His shoulders ( Luke 15:4-5 ). Your father, along with the eparch, will be cast out of the paradise of God, for they—now grateful to God—will soon again be disobedient to Him, having fallen into the snares of the devil."
Indeed, soon after God's terrible punishment, King Severus again fell into error and, abandoning God, whose mighty arm he had just come to know, turned once more to idols. Summoning the martyr, he said to him:
- Charalampius, listen to my advice, bow to the gods - and you will be honored by us.
The saint answered:
“It cannot happen that a servant of God could be seduced by the words of a tormentor; truly, king, your words are reckless and absurd.
Then, angry, Sever said:
- O madman, you consider my words reckless!
And he ordered that a fishing hook be attached to his lips and that he be led around the entire city.
The king's daughter approached her father and said, "Father, what are you doing? Why are you tormenting this righteous man? Why are you caught in the devil's nets and, abandoning good, choosing evil? Why, having rejected life, do you prefer death? Why do you rise up with the fury of a tormentor against this servant of Christ? Listen to me, father, and as before you sought evil, so now strive for all that is good; for he who sows evil will reap evil, but he who sows with blessing will reap good. Remember the punishment of God that was meted out to you, when you were bound with invisible chains and, hanging in the air, confessed the true God; but now, freed from bonds, you renounce Him. Thus many rulers, under the Lord's punishment, come to know His power, but, freed from punishment, they again forget their Lord."
Having heard this, King Severus did not improve at all, but, becoming even more enraged, said:
– Make a sacrifice to the gods, Galina!
“Whatever you want, I’ll do it all, father,” she told him.
Then the king, rejoicing, said:
“Let Charalampius be freed, since my daughter has agreed to sacrifice to the gods.
When the holy martyr was brought to the king, Severus said to him: “Behold, our daughter Galina has fallen away from your faith in ours and now wants to offer a sacrifice to the gods. Enter, Charalampius, with her into the temple of our gods and do what we desire of you.”
Since Charalampius did not respond to this, the king thought that he had agreed.
Meanwhile, Galina went to the temple of Dius and Apollo and said to the priests there: “In repentance, I came to pray to the gods, whom I angered by believing in Christ.”
The priests exclaimed at this:
"Great Dius! Almighty Apollo! Creator of heaven and king of all lords, look upon Galina and, for the sake of the King of the North, have mercy on her!"
Blessed Galina, having entered the idol temple, called the priests to her and asked them:
- Which idol should I overthrow first - the idol of Dius or of Hercules and Apollo?
“No, Galina,” the priests answered, “do not plot such evil and do not mock our saviors, otherwise, angry, they will overthrow heaven and destroy the whole earth.”
Then Galina, taking Dieu's idol, said to him:
“If you are a god, then how could you not see until now that I came to crush you?”
Having said this, Galina struck the idol hard on the ground, and it broke into three pieces; then she grabbed the idol of Apollo and broke it as well, saying:
– Fall to the ground, you, Satan, hunched old man, for you are dust!
And she destroyed all the idols. Then the priests, coming to King Severus, said to him:
"Oh, king, our hope is lost. Now the sun will go out, and the world will perish, for our gods are dead." The king, surprised, asked:
- What do these words of yours mean?
“Galina, your daughter, has crushed our gods,” they answered.
Then North said:
“Go and call fifty blacksmiths to me tonight, and restore the idols, place them back in their temple, and say that they have risen, just as the Galileans say about their Christ, that He rose from the dead.
The priests carried out all this with great care; in the morning, when they came to the king's daughter, they said to her:
– Go to the temple and look at our resurrected gods.
"Have the gods risen?" Galina asked. "I'll go and see them!" The priests said:
– Truly a great miracle: dishonored and desecrated yesterday, they now shine with even greater honor and glory.
The next morning, blessed Galina said:
– It is easier for me to destroy new idols than old ones.
And turning to the idol, Diya added:
- Jupiter, risen from the dead, I command you: go again to the dead!
Having said this, Galina again broke all the idols.
Then the priests, filled with rage, reported to the king a second time about the death of their gods.
Severus, calling his daughter to him, said to her:
- Why did you crush our gods?
Galina answered:
“You call them your gods only because you are seduced by a false teaching: they are nothing more than soulless things.
To this the king exclaimed:
– Bring a sacrifice to the gods, seed of wickedness, and not my birth!
To this, blessed Galina, as if laughing at her father, said:
“I have already sacrificed to them as best I could, but if you wish, I can do the same with the rest of your gods.
Then the angry king left his daughter and again turned to the torture of the holy martyr Charalampius: he gave him over to be desecrated by a widow.
When Charalampius entered the house of this widow, he bowed down to one of the pillars standing there, and immediately this pillar became a large tree, covering the entire house of this woman with its branches.
Having seen such a miracle, the widow became frightened and said: “Go away from me, Charalampius, I am unworthy to accept such a husband; it seems to me that you are either Christ, or an Angel, or a prophet, or an apostle; I beg you, go away from me: I am unworthy to accept you under my roof.”
To this the holy martyr replied to her: "Be of good cheer, daughter, for you have found grace with the Lord. Only believe that He is 'Great is the Lord ,' and merciful, 'and all-praiseworthy'" ( Psalm 47:2, 95:4 ) .
The next morning, the neighbors, seeing a tall and leafy tree covering the widow’s house with its shade, said to each other:
- What kind of miracle is this?
Some responded to this:
- It’s because Saint Charalampus is there: that’s why this pillar became a tall tree.
When the neighbors entered the house, they found the saint sitting and teaching the widow; he said to her:
“Blessed are you that you have believed in Christ, blessed are you that your sins are forgiven: for the Lord accepts those who repent.”
And the people who came said to him:
- Why don’t you tell us whether you really are Christ?
Saint Charalampus answered:
– Forgive me, children, I am your servant and slave of Christ, and I do all this in His name.
Then the widow, with boldness and a loud voice, cried out thus:
– Rejoice, Charalampius, always shining with unquenchable light 1294 , rejoice, Charalampius, who led by grace, rejoice, Charalampius, all-luminous lamp.
While she was saying this, her neighbors who had come, having believed in Christ with their hearts, fell at the knees of Saint Charalampus, openly confessing Christ, and all received saving baptism.
The next day the king ordered the saint to be brought to trial; those who believed in Christ, having come to the king earlier, informed him of the miracle that had been performed, how the pillar sprouted and became a large tree.
Severus was very surprised, and the eparch Crispus said to him: “King, if you do not order this sorcerer to be killed with the sword, soon everyone will be seduced by his miracles and, leaving our gods and us, will follow him.”
Then the emperor condemned the saint to beheading. Hearing of this, the martyr Charalampus joyfully sang this psalm of David: "I will sing to You, O Lord, mercy and judgment. I sing and ponder in the blameless way: 'When will You come to me?'" ( Psalm 100:1-2 and to the end of the psalm).
Arriving joyfully at the place where he was to finish his earthly labors, Saint Charalampus said: “I thank You, Lord God, that You are so merciful and generous to me; You, Jesus, who have defeated the enemies, captured hell and healed mortal illnesses, remember me, Lord my God, in Your Kingdom.”
While he was praying thus, the heavens opened and the Lord Himself descended upon the martyr with a multitude of holy Angels, and a beautiful emerald throne was erected, and the King of Glory, sitting upon it, said to Saint Charalampus:
"Come, Charalampus, who suffered so much for me, ask me for what you want, and I will give it to you." The holy martyr responded:
– For me, O Lord, it is a great mercy that You have granted me to behold Your terrible glory; but, O Lord, if it please You, give glory to Your name: let there be no famine, no pestilence, no corrupting wind that destroys fruits in the place where my relics will rest and where my memory will be venerated, but let there reign in that place peace, prosperity, an abundance of wheat and wine; and save, O Lord, the souls of those people; for You Yourself know that men are flesh and blood, so forgive them their sins and give them an abundance of the fruits of the earth, that, being satisfied and enjoying themselves amidst their labors, they may glorify You, their God, the Giver of all good things; and may the dew that descends from heaven be for their healing. Lord my God! Pour out Your grace on all!
After the saint had said this prayer, the Lord said:
- Let it be as you ask, my courageous warrior!
After this, the Lord entered heaven, surrounded by His Angels, and the soul of Saint Charalampus followed Him.
Then the soldiers departed and reported to the king the glory the martyr had been granted, how the Lord had appeared to him, how he had died without being beheaded, and how they had seen his soul ascend to heaven. Severus was greatly astonished by all this and fell into great fear. Blessed Galina, the king's daughter, asked him for the martyr's body and, taking it, wrapped it in pure linen, anointed it with spices and precious myrrh, and, glorifying the Lord, placed it in a golden reliquary. The king feared to judge and punish his daughter; seeing that the Lord was with her, he allowed her to live in Christian piety, according to her own wishes.
This invincible and invincible great martyr Charalampus, who now intercedes for the whole world, suffered in the month of February, on the tenth day of the year ; standing at the right hand of the throne of God, he unceasingly prays for us to our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and kingdom, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, amen.
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Dmitrij_Rostovskij/zhitija-svjatykh/141