20 Luglio Santi Martiri dal XVI al XXI secolo

 

Sainte SALOME, Géorgienne, martyre par la main des musulmans (XVIIIème siècle).

 

Santa Salome era una monaca di un monastero femminile presso Gerusalemme nella seconda metà del XIII secolo. La sua vicenda è narrata nelle note marginali, risalenti al XIII secolo, di un manoscritto più antico di due secoli. Secondo tale breve racconto, durante il dominio saraceno di Gerusalemme, Salome abiurò la religione cristiana per convertirsi all  islam, forse per timore delle minacce subite. Poco tempo dopo, però, riconosciuto il suo errore fece ritorno alla fede cristiana. Per tale motivo fu crudelmente torturata dai mussulmani: venne infine decapitata ed il suo corpo dato alle fiamme

Troparion 
O Christ our God, save our souls through the intercessions of thy holy martyr Salome!

There is little known about St. Salome.  In the Synaxarion of Jerusalem's Holy Cross Monastery it is written: "On this day we commemorate the martyrdom of Salome the Georgian, who at first yielded to the Persian threats and renounced Christ, but later confessed the true Faith.  For this she was beheaded and cast into flames."  It is believed that the saint was tortured in that very monastery in  approximately the years 1227-1228.

Saint ELIE CHAVCHAVADZE le Juste, écrivain et homme politique géorgien, père spirituel et docteur de son peuple, martyr assassiné par les occupants de la Géorgie (1907).

Troparion Son of the Georgian people and martyr for thy nation, most glorious Ilia the Righteous, pray to Christ God to have mercy on our souls!    

St. Ilia was born on October 27, 1837, to a noble family in the village of Qvareli in Kakheti in the Republic of Georgia.  He was educated in the law of God and the law of Georgia.  He had such a passion for learning the history and language of Georgia that he made it his goal to inspire others to learn and appreciate it.  He is known to have said, "We, the Georgian people, have inherited three divine gifts from our ancestors: our motherland, our language and our faith.  If we fail to protect these gifts, what merit will we have as men?"  Because of this zeal for the heritage of the Georgian people and the Holy Orthodox faith, a band of militants shot him to death on August 30, 1907.  St. Ilia's killers were caught and sentenced to death by hanging.  Olga, St. Ilia's wife, pleaded with the governor-general to pardon her husband's murders, calling them "unlucky brothers gone astray."  She insisted that her husband would have wanted it that way.  

Saint PHILOSOPHE ORNATSKY, prêtre,martyr par la main des Communistes (Russie 1918).

Saint JUVENAL, diacre, martyr par la main des Communistes (Russie 1919).

Sainte LYDIE et les soldats ALEXIS et CYRILLE, martyrs par la main des Communistes (Russie 1928).