Brothers and sisters, let us seek this living communion with the Lord Jesus Christ to strengthen, because without God’s power we cannot cope with difficulties and we cannot receive lasting, true joy. This is what His Holiness the Metropolitan of Sofia and Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil said in his sermon today, after serving the holy liturgy for the feast of the capital’s “St. Martyr Paraskeva” temple, BTA reported.
As theologian Prof. Ivan Zhelev writes in the “Orthodox Calendar” section of BTA for today’s holiday, Paraskeva of Iconium (she is different from the martyr Paraskeva of Rome and the venerable Paraskeva of Epivatus) was born at the end of the third century in the city of Iconia, district of Lycaonia, South Minor Asia. Her parents were Christians and named their daughter so because she was born on Friday (in Greek “paraskevi”), and Friday is the day of Christ’s atoning death. Paraskeva grew up as a convinced Christian and helped many people to know and accept faith in Christ the Savior. But during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian, she was tortured and killed for her faith, in Iconium, in 303.
When Paraskeva’s parents died and she inherited considerable wealth, but she used her property not for vain things, not for entertainment and pleasant pastime, but for helping the needy and for strengthening in that virtuous life which she had adopted from her parents, said Patriarch Daniel. Her love for God was such that she didn’t think and didn’t want to get bored. She, in her youth, decided to serve God to the end and devote herself completely to him, and when there was a persecution against the Christians, an envoy of the emperor came to Iconium to carry out this decree, His Holiness said.
Patriarch Daniel also spoke in his sermon about the torture to which Paraskeva was subjected. But all these terrible tortures could not break either her faith, nor her trust in God, nor her love, and during the night, closed in the dungeon, the Lord sent an angel who strengthened her by showing her the instruments of torture that the Lord Jesus himself Christ suffered. And with that, the Lord strengthened her, healed her, and in a miraculous way her health and the integrity of her body were restored. Amazed the next day, the tormentors continued the torture and, after they failed to break her, to force her to deny God, they condemned her of cutting with a sword. This is how the young virgin Paraskeva suffered in the year 303, said the Bulgarian patriarch.
His Holiness noted that every single feat of martyrdom amazes us – how through faith, how through the power of Christ, the fragile human body becomes stronger than the iron with which they were tortured. It became stronger than the entire state machine of the Roman Empire, where the emperor had absolute power.
Many, many people have suffered in different ways, for different reasons, only the Christians have persevered in their hope to the end, they have persevered in their favor, even towards the tormentors, following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, Patriarch Daniel said in his speech.