Prologue: hagiographies of the saints
 
 
 
 
 
 

Holy Martyr Epimachus     11/13/2013

Born in Egypt, in Egypt he led his ascetic struggle, and in Egypt he ended in martyrdom his life on earth. Following the example of Saint John the Baptist, he withdrew to the desert in his young age. As his love for God was great, the Holy Spirit instructed him in the truth and in the ways he should lead his ascetic struggle. Epimachus learned that the idolaters persecuted and killed the Christians in Alexandria because of Christ. Inspired by godly zeal, he went to the city and threw down the idols. When the idolaters put him to torture because of this, he shouted:” Beat me, spit on me, put a wreath of thorns on my head and a reed in my hand, give me gall to drink, crucify me and then spear me through – I want to suffer all my Lord had suffered!” In the crowd that watched the sufferings of Saint Epimachus, there was a woman with one blind eye. She was weeping abundantly for sorrow, watching the merciless torture of the holy man. And when the torturers started mangling his flesh, some drops of the Martyr’s blood fell upon her eyes. Her sight was at once restored and she exclaimed: “Great is the God of this Martyr! “ Saint Epimachus was beheaded and his soul inhabited the everlasting joy, around the year 250.