October: Day 28: Teaching 2: Holy Great Martyr Paraskevi of Iconium

 

October: Day 28: Teaching 2:
Holy Great Martyr Paraskevi of Iconium
 
(The Benefits of Reflecting on the Passion of Christ)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Great Martyr Paraskevi, whose memory is today celebrated by the Holy Church, lived during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the city of Iconium. Her parents were Christians and especially honored Friday — the day of the Savior's suffering and death on the Cross, spending it in fasting and prayerful remembrance of Christ's Passion. When God granted them a daughter on this day, they named her Paraskevi, which means "Friday" in Greek. Later, growing in faith and Christian piety, Paraskevi, following the example of her parents, especially honored Friday. Her very name recalling the sufferings of Christ, she strove in her heart to draw continually closer to the Lord crucified for the salvation of the world. In this closeness, she found a source of consolation and strengthening of her faith and love for the Lord. Finally, she herself worthily partook in Christ's Passion, courageously confessing Christ and enduring the most severe tortures for Him. Brought to trial, Saint Paraskevi, still a young virgin, boldly resisted the temptations and threats of the torturer, who urged her to sacrifice to idols for the sake of her life. The torturer then ordered the Holy Confessor to be hanged from a tree and her body tormented with iron nails. Then, wounded to the bone and barely alive, she was thrown into prison. But God did not leave the courageous sufferer without consolation and miraculous help. An angel appeared to her in the prison, holding in his hands the instruments of Christ's Passion — the Cross, the Crown of Thorns, the Spear, the Reed, and the Sponge — and said, "Arise, maiden, sharer of Christ's Passion. I have been sent by God to visit you. For the consolation of your soul and the healing of your ailments, I bring you these instruments of the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. Arise, Christ the Lord heals you." The Holy Martyr immediately arose, kissed the instruments of Christ's Passion, and the angel wiped her wounds with the Sponge, and suddenly her entire body was healed of its wounds, so that the prison guards who arrived in the morning, expecting to find the Martyr dead, saw her in her former blooming form and beauty. In this miraculous healing, the Holy Martyr's evil tormentor failed to comprehend the invincible side of the crucified Lord and continued to torture Saint Paraskevi, ordering her, hanging from a tree, to be burned with torches and finally beheaded with a sword. Thus, the Holy Great Martyr, in the wedding garment of virginity, adorned with her own blood, stood before her Heavenly Bridegroom, Christ, becoming a participant and sharer in His Passion!