Holy Martyr Orestes

Life

Orestes was from the city of Tyana in Cappadocia. Saint Orestes was a Christian from birth and a physician by profession. He was interrogated harshly by a certain wicked governor named Maximus in the time of the reign of Diocletian. When the governor first advised him to renounce Christ and worship the idols, Orestes answered: "If thou didst know the power of the Crucified One, thou wouldst cast aside the falsehood of idols and wouldst worship the true God." For this he was severely beaten, then scraped and torn, then burned with red-hot iron, and finally thrown into prison to die of starvation. Young Orestes spent seven days without bread or water. On the eighth day he was again brought before the governor, who began to threaten him terribly with tortures. To this Orestes answered: "I am ready to endure every torture, having the sign of my Lord Jesus Christ depicted upon my heart." Then the governor commanded that they drive twenty iron nails into his feet, then bind him to a horse and drive him over thorns and stones until the martyr of God expired. At the place where Orestes' body was thrown, a certain man appeared, radiant as the sun, and he gathered all of Orestes' bones and carried them to a hill near the city of Tyana and reverently buried them there. This wondrous saint Orestes appeared to Saint Demetrius of Rostov and showed him all his wounds on his body.