Holy Martyr Eupsychius

Life

He was of noble birth and well brought up in the pious faith. In the time of Emperor Julian the Apostate, when Saint Basil the Great governed the Church of God in Caesarea, this Eupsychius entered into marriage with a maiden of distinction. But he was not granted even a single day to live in wedlock. For at the time of his wedding there occurred a pagan festival with the offering of sacrifice to the idol of Fortuna. Eupsychius went with his companions and smashed all the idols in the temple, and destroyed the temple itself as well. When Emperor Julian heard of this, he was exceedingly wrathful and commanded that the perpetrators be beheaded, that many Christians be conscripted into the army, that an enormous tax be levied upon the Christians, that the temple of Fortuna be rebuilt at the Christians' expense, and that the city's honorary name of Caesarea (given to it by Caesar Claudius) be taken away and it be called by its former name, Maza. Saint Eupsychius was first bound to a tree and cruelly tortured, and then beheaded, in the year 362. Shortly thereafter the wicked Emperor Julian visited that city on his way to Persia, against which he was waging war. Saint Basil came out to meet him and brought three barley loaves as a sign of honor and hospitality. The emperor ordered that a handful of hay be given to the saint in return. Basil said to the emperor: "Thou dost mock us, O Emperor; we brought thee bread, by which we feed ourselves, and thou givest us cattle fodder, which thou canst not by thy power transform into food for men." To this the emperor replied: "Know that I shall feed thee with that hay when I return from Persia!" But the malicious apostate never returned alive from Persia, for he perished there by a deserved and unnatural death.

From the Hymn of Praise

### SAINT VADIMCourageous Vadim looks death straight in the eye,And pities Nirsan for the woe that befell him.Nirsan with bared sword before Vadim stands,He fears not God, but the saint he does fear.