Holy Great-Martyr Demetrius
-
The church calendar is filled with warrior saints, soldiers who served in the military faithfully but stood up for their Christian faith when necessary. Demetrius was an officer in the Roman army, and belonged to one of Rome’s ancient patrician families with the right to speak in the Senate. He was killed in the last big persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian.
This persecution was designed to exterminate Christianity completely. A successful orator, his speeches led many to convert to Christianity. He was killed by being pierced with spears, around 306 AD, at the famous town of Sirmium, in modern Serbia, which had a massive military base. His relics were moved south into modern Greece, to the city of Thessalonica. The relics of St Demetrius have poured out liquid myrrh for over 1,200 years. The liquid has to be collected regularly or else the trough at the base of the shrine would overflow. It is used for anointing the sick, and there have been thousands of miraculous cures.
In iconography, Demetrius is shown either as a standing warrior in Roman armor and holding a spear, or mounted on a horse and defeating a soldier. The second image comes from a legend which tells of Demetrius being able to defeat a gladiator, Lyaeus, who had slaughtered many Christians. Demetrius is shown defeating him, but not killing him, which reflects the legend’s point of saying that it was through Demetrius’ prayers to God that the young Nestor was able to crush the wicked gladiator.
In our Byzantine-Ruthenian Catholic Church, his feast day on October 26 marks the movement of the cattle and sheep herds out of the