The Name day of everyone
named Tatiana or Tanya (coming from Latin with the meaning "the
one who arranges").
The Holy
Virgin Martyr Tatiana of Rome was born into an illustrious Roman
family, and her father was elected consul three times. He was secretly
a Christian and raised his daughter to be devoted to God and the
Church. When she reached the age of maturity, Tatiana decided to
remain a virgin, betrothing herself to Christ. Disdaining earthly
riches, she sought instead the imperishable wealth of Heaven. She was
made a deaconess in one of the Roman churches and served God in
fasting and prayer, tending the sick and helping the needy.
When Rome was ruled by the sixteen-year-old Alexander
Severus (222-235), all power was concentrated in the hands of the
regent Ulpian, an evil enemy and persecutor of Christians. Christian
blood flowed like water. Tatiana was also arrested, and they brought
her into the temple of Apollo to force her to offer sacrifice to the
idol. The saint began praying, and suddenly there was an earthquake.
The idol was smashed into pieces, and part of the temple collapsed and
fell down on the pagan priests and many pagans. The demon inhabiting
the idol fled screeching from that place. Those present saw its shadow
flying through the air.
Then they tore holy virgin's eyes out with hooks, but
she bravely endured everything, praying for her tormentors that the
Lord would open their spiritual eyes. And the Lord heard the prayer of
His servant. The executioners saw four angels encircle the saint and
beat her tormentors. A voice was heard from the heavens speaking to
the holy virgin. Eight men believed in Christ and fell on their knees
before St. Tatiana, begging them to forgive them their sin against
her. For confessing themselves Christians they were tortured and
executed, receiving Baptism by blood.
The next day Saint Tatiana was brought before the wicked
judge. Seeing her completely healed of all her wounds, they stripped
her and beat her, and slashed her body with razors. A wondrous
fragrance then filled the air. Then she was stretched out on the
ground and beaten for so long that the servants had to be replaced
several times. The torturers became exhausted and said that an
invisible power was beating them with iron rods. Indeed, the angels
warded off the blows directed at her and turned them upon the
tormentors, causing nine of them to fall dead. They then threw the
saint in prison, where she prayed all night and sang praises to the
Lord with the angels.
A new morning began, and they took Saint Tatiana to the
tribunal once more. The torturers beheld with astonishment that after
such terrible torments she appeared completely healthy and even more
radiant and beautiful than before. They began to urge her to offer
sacrifice to the goddess Diana. The saint seemed agreeable, and they
took her to the heathen temple. Saint Tatiana made the Sign of the
Cross and began to pray. Suddenly, there was a crash of deafening
thunder, and lightning struck the idol, the sacrificial offerings and
the pagan priests.
Once again, the martyr was fiercely tortured. She was
hung up and scraped with iron claws, and her breasts were cut off.
That night, angels appeared to her in prison and healed her wounds as
before. On the following day, they took Saint Tatiana to the circus
and loosed a hungry lion on her. The beast did not harm the saint, but
meekly licked her feet.
As they were taking the lion back to its cage, it
killed one of the torturers. They threw Tatiana into a fire, but the
fire did not harm the martyr. The pagans, thinking that she was a
sorceress, cut her hair to take away her magical powers, then locked
her up in the temple of Zeus.
On the third day, pagan priests came to the temple
intending to offer sacrifice to Zeus. They beheld the idol on the
floor, shattered to pieces, and the holy martyr Tatiana joyously
praising the Lord Jesus Christ. The judge then condemned the valiant
sufferer to be beheaded with a sword. Her father was also executed
with her, because he had raised her to love Christ.
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PEACE HAVENS of BULGARIA
