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Martyr Orestes, Physician of Cappadocia: A Witness of Faith · Saints and Scripture

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  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Saints and Scripture Podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today is Tuesday, november tenth, twenty twenty six.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today we remember Martyr Orestes, a physician and soldier from the city of Tiana in Cappadocia.
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  SPEAKER_00: He lived during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, who ruled from two hundred and eighty four to three hundred and eleven.
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  SPEAKER_00: Saint Orestes was known as a learned and skillful physician.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was also a capable soldier.
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  SPEAKER_00: From his childhood he was devoted to Christ, offering praise to God with a pure heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: He refused to worship the demons that the pagans called gods.
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  SPEAKER_00: During this time, the emperor sent a military officer named Maximinus Tutiana to stop the spread of Christianity.
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  SPEAKER_00: Orestes was one of the first to be brought before Maximinus for trial.
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  SPEAKER_00: Courageously, Orestes confessed his faith in Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: The prosecutor offered him riches, honors, and fame if he would worship the idols.
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  SPEAKER_00: But Orestes refused.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maximinus tried many ways to force him to deny Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: When that failed, they stripped him naked, beat him, and flogged him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Then they put him in jail for seven days.
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  SPEAKER_00: After seven days they took him to a pagan temple to offer sacrifice and worship the idols.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maximenus asked if he would convert to the worship honored by the emperors.
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  SPEAKER_00: Orestes said he was willing to obey in political matters, but he would only recognize the one true God.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maximenus ordered that Orestes be beaten again by forty soldiers, who took turns striking him with lashes, rods, and rawhide.
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  SPEAKER_00: They also tormented him with fire.
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  SPEAKER_00: Saint Orestes prayed to the Lord, asking for a sign to shame those who hated him.
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  SPEAKER_00: The earth trembled and the idols in the temple fell and were smashed.
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  SPEAKER_00: The temple collapsed when Orestes came out.
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  SPEAKER_00: Angry, Maximinus locked Orestes in prison without food or drink for seven days.
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  SPEAKER_00: On the eighth day, they tortured him further.
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  SPEAKER_00: They hammered twenty nails into his legs and tied him to a wild horse.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was dragged over stones and died in the year three hundred and four.
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  SPEAKER_00: His relics were thrown into the sea.
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  SPEAKER_00: Many years later, in sixteen eighty five, Saint Demetrios, who became bishop of Rostov, wrote the life of Saint Orestes.
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  SPEAKER_00: One night during the Nativity Fast, Saint Orestes appeared to him in a dream.
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  SPEAKER_00: The martyr showed Saint Demetrios the wounds he had suffered, a deep wound in his left side from a spear, both arms cut off, and his legs wounded behind the knees.
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  SPEAKER_00: He said he suffered more torments than were written in his life.
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  SPEAKER_00: Saint Orestes told him he was not the same Orestes among the five martyrs of Sebasti, but the one whose life had just been written.
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  SPEAKER_00: As the bells rang for Matins, the vision ended.
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  SPEAKER_00: Saint Orestes' example reminds us of the strength found in faith and the power of God to sustain his servants through suffering.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lord help us to remain faithful, like Saint Orestes, even when we face difficulties.
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  SPEAKER_00: Strengthen our hearts to trust in you alone.
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  SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God.
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  SPEAKER_00: Amen.