The Holy Virgin
Martyr Tatiana was born into an illustrious Roman family, and her father was
elected consul three times. He was secretly a Christian and raised his daughter
to be devoted to God and the Church. When she reached the age of maturity,
Tatiana decided to remain a virgin, betrothing herself to Christ. Disdaining
earthly riches, she sought instead the imperishable wealth of Heaven. She was
made a deaconess in one of the Roman churches and served God in fasting and
prayer, tending the sick and helping the needy.
When Rome was ruled
by the sixteen-year-old Alexander Severus (222-235), all power was concentrated
in the hands of the regent Ulpian, an evil enemy and persecutor of Christians.
Christian blood flowed like water. Tatiana was also arrested, and they brought
her into the temple of Apollo to force her to offer sacrifice to the idol. The
saint began praying, and suddenly there was an earthquake. The idol was smashed
into pieces, and part of the temple collapsed and fell down on the pagan
priests and many pagans. The demon inhabiting the idol fled screeching from
that place. Those present saw its shadow flying through the air.
Then they tore holy
virgin’s eyes out with hooks, but she bravely endured everything, praying for
her tormentors that the Lord would open their spiritual eyes. And the Lord
heard the prayer of His servant. The executioners saw four angels encircle the
saint and beat her tormentors. A voice was heard from the heavens speaking to
the holy virgin. Eight men believed in Christ and fell on their knees before
Saint Tatiana, begging them to forgive them their sin against her. For
confessing themselves Christians they were tortured and executed, receiving
Baptism by blood.
The next day Saint
Tatiana was brought before the wicked judge. Seeing her completely healed of
all her wounds, they stripped her and beat her, and slashed her body with
razors. A wondrous fragrance then filled the air. Then she was stretched out on
the ground and beaten for so long that the servants had to be replaced several times.
The torturers became exhausted and said that an invisible power was beating
them with iron rods. Indeed, the angels warded off the blows directed at her
and turned them upon the tormentors, causing nine of them to fall dead. They
then threw the saint in prison, where she prayed all night and sang praises to
the Lord with the angels.
A new morning
began, and they took Saint Tatiana to the tribunal once more. The torturers
beheld with astonishment that after such terrible torments she appeared
completely healthy and even more radiant and beautiful than before. They began
to urge her to offer sacrifice to the goddess Diana. The saint seemed
agreeable, and they took her to the heathen temple. Saint Tatiana made the Sign
of the Cross and began to pray. Suddenly, there was a crash of deafening
thunder, and lightning struck the idol, the sacrificial offerings and the pagan
priests.
Once again, the
martyr was fiercely tortured. She was hung up and scraped with iron claws, and
her breasts were cut off. That night, angels appeared to her in prison and
healed her wounds as before. On the following day, they took Saint Tatiana to
the circus and loosed a hungry lion on her. The beast did not harm the saint,
but meekly licked her feet.
As they were taking
the lion back to its cage, it killed one of the torturers. They threw Tatiana
into a fire, but the fire did not harm the martyr. The pagans, thinking that
she was a sorceress, cut her hair to take away her magical powers, then locked
her up in the temple of Zeus.
On the third day,
pagan priests came to the temple intending to offer sacrifice to Zeus. They
beheld the idol on the floor, shattered to pieces, and the holy martyr Tatiana
joyously praising the Lord Jesus Christ. The judge then condemned the valiant
sufferer to be beheaded with a sword. Her father was also executed with her,
because he had raised her to love Christ.
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