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Saints Timothy and Maura Commemorated on May 3 Saints Timothy and
Maura suffered for the faith during the time of persecution under the
emperor Diocletian (284-305). Saint Timothy came from the village of Perapa
(Egyptian Thebaid), and was the son of a priest by the name of Pikolpossos. He
was made a reader among the church clergy and likewise a keeper and copyist of
Divine-service books. Saint Timothy came under denunciation that he was a
keeper of Christian books, which by order of the emperor were to be confiscated
and burned. They brought Saint Timothy before the governor Arian, who demanded
him to hand over the clergy books. For his refusal to obey the command, they
subjected the saint to horrible tortures. They shoved into his ears two red-hot
iron rods, from which the sufferer lost his eyesight and became blind. Saint
Timothy bravely endured the pain and he gave thanks to God, for granting him to
suffer for Him. The torturers hung up the saint head downwards, putting in his
mouth a piece of wood, and they tied an heavy stone to his neck. The suffering
of Saint Timothy was so extreme, that the very ones executing the torment began
to implore the governor to ease up on the torture. And about this time they
informed Arian, that Timothy had a young wife by the name of Maura, whom he had
married a mere 20 days before. Arian gave orders to bring Maura, hoping, that
with her present they could break the will of the martyr. At the request of
Maura, they removed the piece of wood from the mouth of the martyr, so that he
could speak. Saint Timothy urged his wife not to be afraid of the tortures and
to go the path with him. Saint Maura answered: "I am prepared to die with
thee", – and boldly she confessed herself a Christian. Arian gave orders
to tear out the hair from her head and to cut off the fingers from her hands.
Saint Maura with joy underwent the torment and even thanked the governor for
the torture, suffered in the redemption of sins. Then Arian gave orders to
throw Saint Maura into a boiling cauldron, but she did not sense any pain and
she remained unharmed. Suspecting that the servants out of sympathy for the
martyress had filled the cauldron with cold water, Arian went up and ordered
the saint to splash him on the hand with water from the cauldron. When the
martyr did this, Arian screamed with pain and drew back his scaulded hand.
Then, momentarily admitting the power of the miracle, Arian confessed God in
Whom Maura believed as the True God, and he gave orders to release the saint.
But the devil still held great power over the governor, and soon he again began
to urge Saint Maura to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Having gotten
nowhere, Arian was overcome all the more by a satanic rage and he began to come
up with new tortures. Then the people began to murmur and demand a stop to the
abuse of this innocent woman. But Saint Maura, turning to the people, said: "Let
no one defend me, I have one Defender – God, on Whom I trust". © 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos. |
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