22 April 2023 (MIA)

Macedonian Orthodox Church Calendar

The Holy Martyr Eupsychius

He was of gentle birth and was reared in faith and devotion. In the time of the Emperor Julian the Apostate, when St Basil the Great was governing the Church in Caesarea, Eupsychius married a girl of good family. But he was not given even one day to live in wedlock, for, on his wedding day itself, there was a pagan festival with sacrifices to the idol of Fortune. Eupsychius went out with some others and smashed all the idols in the temple, then pulled down the temple itself. Julian was furious, and commanded that the culprits be beheaded, that many Christians be taken into the army, that an enormous levy be imposed on Christians, the proceeds of which were to be used to rebuild the Temple of Fortune, and that the town cease to be called Caesarea (as it had been named by Claudius Caesar), and revert to its former name, Maza. Eupsychius was first bound to a tree and cruelly tortured, and then beheaded, in 362. A little after this time, the wicked Emperor Julian visited that town on his way to Persia, against which he was waging war. St Basil went to meet him, bearing three barley loaves as a sign of honour and welcome. The Emperor ordered that, as a return gift, the saint to be given a fistful of hay. Basil said to the Emperor: `You ridicule us now, O King; we bring you bread, by which we are feed and you give us miserable food, which you, with all your power, are not able to turn into nourishment for men!’ To this the Emperor replied: `You can be sure that I will feed you with this hay when I return from Persia!’ But the wicked apostate did not return alive from Persia, but perished there by a fitting and un-natural death.

Catholic Calendar

St. Leonidas of Alexandria

Layman. Father of seven sons, the eldest of whom was the philosopher Origen, whom he raised and taught. Philosopher and rhetorician. Imprisoned and martyred by command of Laertus, Governor of Egypt. All his property was confiscated, and his family reduced to complete poverty until they were “adopted” by a wealthy Christian woman. Died beheaded in 202 at Alexandria, Egypt.