The Story of saint symphrosa
A very interesting conversation was going on
between Symphrosa and her husband.
“’What shall I do to
this Jesus of Nazareth?’ asked Pontius Pilate.
” Crucify him ! Crucify him! Crucify him and
kill him” shouted the Jewish crowd. Pilate replied stating,
“ what.....Do you want me to crucify your king? Are
you aware of your statement?”
For this the crowd replied, ‘Jesus is not our
king. Hence forth Caesar is our only king.’
Though Pilate knew that Jesus was blameless,
he was helpless in saving Jesus from the Jewish barbarians who were very
particular to put Jesus to death. So Pilate ordered a basin of water to
be brought and washed off his hands stating, ‘I am blameless in this man’s
death. I am not bound by the curse of his bloodshed. I am washing off my hands
in this case.’
The
Jews not knowing what they were stating said “ let the curse of this man’s
bloodshed be on us and our generation. Crucify him! Crucify him!’
They
were completely unaware of neither what they were saying nor the consequences.
Thus Pontius Pilate ordered Jesus to be crucified.” So saying Symphrosa’s
husband stopped the story.
But
Symphrosa could not control her eagerness in knowing the rest of the story and
hence said,
“ My
dear why have you stopped the story abruptly…. Come on go on tell me what
happened further?” “Are you not
feeling sleepy? I am feeling drowsy and I am going to bed” stated her
husband.
“No my sweet heart, I am feeling very fresh.
There is still much time for dawn. I am very fond of the story of Jesus as well
as the historical events of Romans. So please go on and tell me what happened
next in the life of Jesus” replied Symphrosa.
“Honey all our seven children are fast asleep
listening to our story. But you are still awake. If we delay to sleep now, how
would we be able to wake up in the morning and go on with the day’s work?”
replied her husband
“Oh!
My sweet heart, are you still in the past world thinking you are the general of
the king. Let me remind you that it is already a year since our king Adrian has
relieved you off your duty. The day we and our seven children as a family
accepted Christ and took baptism in his name you resigned your job as an army general. So
please do remember this and continue the story. I am eagerly waiting to listen
to the rest of it” Said Symphrosa.
“ Of
course I resigned my job. Don’t you think I had taken the right decision? Since
our king hates Christians and the very sight of them, how could I work under
him knowing this heart of his? That was why I resigned my post stating that due
to my family well being I am resigning my job. But the king was quiet
disappointed in this decision of mine. Somehow by God’s grace he sent me off
but on the condition that I should resume duty any time he commands.”
“I already know this story of yours my dear….
Now come on and tell me what happened to Jesus Christ? What happened to the Jews?”
asked Symphrosa.
“My
dear fair lady Symphrosa, now listen to the rest of the story. The words of the
Jews “ let the curse of this man’s bloodshed be on us and our generation “ was
fulfilled exactly the way they said it. But the Jewish people did not know the
heart breaking consequences they and the future generations would face by those
words they said in haste. Words are more powerful than anything else my dear.
Their future generation people underwent the worst torture in their life as if
they passed through the gates of hell. This incident took place in 70 AD.
“ If
we are to know the downfall of Jerusalem, then it is important for us to know
the circumstances which prevailed during that time. I would like to remind you
of the words of Jesus about the city of Jerusalem,
“ This
city will be destroyed so that not one stone will be on top of another
stone’. Though these words of Jesus seem like a curse, yet Jesus had
foretold certain signs to protect them from the unknown future dangers. This is
the statement of the theologians. A few of them are.
66 BC
On the day of Passover, around three o’clock
in the morning, a bright light, similar to the sun, lit up the sky. It stood
over the most holy place of the church for about half an hour. Though this
looks like a good omen, many of the theologians consider this to be a sign of
all the horrible incidents which were to follow in history later.
A young cow was taken to the church to be
sacrificed. This cow gave birth to a calf right in front of the church gate.
On the night of the Passover festival, the
eastern gate of the church opened on its own. This gate was huge gate made of
bronze and it is very difficult to be opened or closed so easily. It requires
about twenty men to open or close the
same. The theologians considered that the church had opened its gates for its
enemies who are to come to destroy it in the near future as well as it were an
open declaration by the church that it had lost all its protection.
On the 21st of the month of
Ayer, before sunset, many people saw warriors on horses who were dressed in
their uniforms along with their breast plates, marched in the sky. (Refer Luke
21:20)
On the night of the day of Pentecost, 66 AD,
few of the priest were walking in the second courtyard of the holy temple when
the suddenly heard people shouting “please take us out of this place”. But to
their surprise there were no people found there.
The Jewish Encyclopedia states that the
Shekinah glory which was present in the Holy of Holies, lifted up and went and
rested above Mount Olive for about three and a half years. During this time the
people heard some strange heavenly voice from the glory cloud which said, “Oh
people of Jerusalem, repent for your sins and pray that your sins may be
forgiven.” This glory cloud stood above Mount Olive up to the day before the
temple of Jerusalem was captured by the enemies.
But since the Jews did not pay heed to the
voice from the glory cloud, they ended up in great disaster. My dear Symphrosa,
I am greatly surprised to think of the fact that Jesus could precisely foretell
all that would happen to the city of Jerusalem, 40 years after his death and
resurrection. “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know and
understand that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea
flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside get out of it, and let not
those who are out in the country come into it , for those are days of vengeance , that all
things that are written may be fulfilled. Alas for those who are pregnant and
for those who have babies which they are nursing in those days! For great
misery and anguish and distress shall be upon the land and indignation and
punishment and retribution upon this people. They will fall by the mouth and
the edge of the sword and will be led away as captives to and among all
nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of
the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
On
hearing all this Symphrosa said, “My dear did all that has been mentioned in
the bible about Jerusalem come true?”
Her husband replied, “Why do you doubt the
word of God my dear? As it is said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
words shall never become void, the word of God never fails.
”
Symphrosa now became even more eager to know about what happened to Jerusalem
and said, “If so please tell me clearly of all that happened to Jerusalem and
how the prophecy was fulfilled.”
Symphrosa’s
husband said, “My dear since I was also a Roman officer I will tell you all
that happened to Jerusalem as far as I know.” So saying he started his speech,
“During the time of Julius Caesar, even before the time of Jesus Christ,
Palestine was brought under the control of Rome. But Caesar could not sustain
his reign over Palestine since the Jews in that city hated the Romans and were
a great barrier in establishing the Roman rule. Sometimes the Jews even openly
opposed the Romans and there were good reasons for the same. The Romans imposed
heavy taxes on the Jews and indirectly robbed them of their wealth. After paying
the actual taxes imposed by the Roman government, the Roman tax collectors used
the remaining tax money to enhance their own wealth. So the Jews decided to
drive out the Romans out of their country and establish an independent rule in
Palestine. To aggravate the situation the Romans also did certain displeasing
activities which fanned the flame of hatred in the hearts of the Jews. The
Romans insulted and ignored the Jews in many places and in many situations. As
the situation grew worse day by the day, at one point the Jews formed terrorist
gangs within the city and decided to get rid of the Romans once for all. The
terrorist groups were supported by the priests and high priest. But something
worse and unexpected happened. The people who were loyal to the Roman
government were appointed in the important positions of Priests and high
priest. Hence, this led to a lot of fraudulent activities and internal
politics. In this situation the people believed that the Messiah, Jesus Christ
would come and release them from tough burden of the Roman government. But evil
won in this situation and the Jewish people were ready to accept Caesar if
Caesar would crucify Jesus Christ on the cross. They were so hard hearted and
disobedient. Hence the then governor Pontius Pilate crucified Jesus Christ as
per the request of the Jewish people. Accordingly Jesus Christ was crucified
and killed.
But
the problem did not cease with the death of Jesus Christ. The Jews, who
promised that they will accept the Roman government, did not keep up their
promise. They deviated from their words. They opposed the Romans many times on
account of the ill treatment and insults they faced in the hands of the Romans.
In the Jewish history, the first freedom fight started in 67 AD. Nero was the
Roman emperor during this freedom fight and he was a notorious monarch. He
enforced a rule that all the people of the kingdoms under his control should
worship him as god and shall have no other gods. This command was in force all
throughout his kingdom. Palestine was under the control of Syria and Casius
Florous was the ruler of Syria. He enforced this command of King Nero in
Palestine also. Accordingly a huge statue of King Nero was placed in Judea and
Jerusalem and the Jews were compelled to worship the statue and offer
sacrifices to it. But the Jews who worshiped the one and only true God refused
to worship the statue of King Nero. Thus this paved the way for the outbreak of
a riot in Palestine. In order to put out the riot 12 Special Forces were
brought from Syria.
This
huge army camped in Beth Shan which was a Roman colony. This is the place where
during the times of King David, King Saul was killed in the battle with the
Philistines. But the huge army which gathered against the Jews was destroyed by
the brilliant war tactics of the Jews, which included suicide attack also. The
Roman army suffered huge loss. An average of 6000 roman soldiers died in the
battle. Many soldiers were terribly wounded and many became handicapped. The
Roman army base was looted and thus the battle resulted in huge loss of men,
materials and weapons of the Romans. Also a most revered symbol of the Romans,
Aqvila which represented an eagle was missing. Having lost in the battle and
having lost their ancient treasured symbol, this turned out to be an
irresistible insult for the Romans. But the Romans swore revenge that they will
bring an even worse disaster and insult on the Jews. Emperor Nero was greatly
disappointed and his anger reached to its heights. So, Emperor Nero sent
Vespasian, a well experienced army general to Judea to put down the Jews.
Vespasian requested his son Titus, who was an army general in the
city of Alexandria, Egypt, to come and assist him to put down the Jews.
Vespasian controlled and put the down the Jews from Galilee up to Jerusalem. He
instructed his son to operate from Judea and control the Jews in that area. But
unfortunately Emperor Nero committed suicide and hence Vespasian went to Rome
and crowned himself as the new Emperor. Hence his son Titus went from Galilee
up to Judea and persistently engaged himself in bringing all the Jews under his
control.
This
was resulted in the demolishment of the sacred temple of the Jews which was
world famous. But the Romans alone were not responsible for the destruction of the
holy city. Various terrorist groups which functioned within the city, who
claimed that they were the people who safeguarded the city, also paved the way
for the destruction of the city. Actually these terrorist groups were selfish
and greatly greedy for money and authority. So these people condemned each
other and fought among themselves and thus made the destruction works of the
Romans even easier.
Symphrosa
was greatly surprised to hear this truth and exclaimed, “What? Are the people
of Jerusalem themselves the reason for their downfall? Unbelievable! I can’t
believe that there could be such people who will kill their own folks. Even
fierce wild animals will never harm their own race. But these people are worse
than animals….. Please do tell me more about these people”. Her husband gave a deep sigh and said, “My
beloved, these stubborn people paved the way for their own destruction is the
truth that history reveals to us. Of this there is a special mention about the
chief Sadducee by name Annas Ben Annas, along with him the terrorist John of
the city of Kiskala, terrorist Simon Barkyora, terrorist Eliasar Benyayir and
terrorist Elisar Ben Hanania. All their plots were so tactful which are beyond
description. But let me tell you one by one…..
The chief Sadducee Annas Ben Annas…… This
person was also called as Arthanas. He is known for his strict judgment and
zeal to ensure justice. He is a well known speaker and a capable politician.
Hence even if he smartly handled the Romans who actually ruled them, he still
had a strong authority to take the just decision with regard to the spiritual
issues. Because of his diplomatic way of approach, he acted as a bridge between
the Jews, the citizens, the terrorists and also the Romans. He was respected
and highly counted upon by the people. Still during his time he ensured and
strictly prohibited the spread of Christianity in his country and hence showed
a hard hand on the Christians. It was under his decree that the so called
brother of Jesus [ Saint James the less ]
was stoned to death and it was executed.
The
terrorist of Kiskala….. this person is a terrorist. He had a small group of
people with him and with their help caused great commotion in the city. Once,
the Romans soldiers were informed that this John was in Kiskala which is in
Galilee and quickly went ahead to capture him under the leadership of Titus and
many other soldiers. They surrounded the fort of Kiskala. That day was a
Sabbath day, which is the day of rest for the Jews. John rightly used this
opportunity. He sent a message to Titus stating that it was Sabbath day and
hence they can have the fight some other day of after the Sabbath day. Titus
also believed in his words and commanded his army to wage their fight the next
day. But that very night John escaped to Jerusalem along with his men. Titus
became very angry to think that he was not able to catch a terrorist with a
small group by a huge roman army that too under his leadership. In his anger he
shouted aloud, ‘I will have you one day you coward… and that day will be your
last day…’
This
John, who escaped to Jerusalem, met Annas Ben Annas and joined hands with him.
He stood before the youngsters of the city and the Jewish elders and gave a
speech….. Which was nothing but a bundle of lies?
He
said, “Dear brothers and elders, I who have come from the fort of Kiskala of
Galilee thought that the Romans were some great people whom we can never fight
with. But later I realized that they are not such great warriors whom we cannot
win over. They are not that much strong and also only a few of them have come
behind me. General Titus is also not an efficient warrior. We wrestled against
each other face to face and I cast him down in no time. Also the soldiers who
had come along with him were mercilessly injured by me that they ran for their
lives. I granted their lives for them out of pity and came here to my own
mother country to strengthen it and also to uproot the rule of Romans here. I
request your valuable support and help in this mission of mine. If we all join
together and fight against the Romans we can defeat them in just an hour. They
are not special in any way for us to fear them. They are just like us… sorry…
sorry they are in fact far below us. Even if they fly to this place to attack
us they will surely fall defeated before the brave and courageous men of our
country. Please do trust me and take away every trace of doubt from your mind.
I am the messiah promised by almighty God and I have come here to save you….
You do not have any one else other than me to bring you out of this bondage of
slavery. Long live the God of Israel…. Let us join together and win this
battle.”
On
hearing such fire filled words, the youngsters roared and applauded to show
their consent and joined behind John. Approximately 25000 men joined with him
right away. The chief priest Ananias was shocked to see this sight. The men of
Ananias and the men of John had difference of opinion and did not agree with
each other. As days went by even John and Ananias had difference of opinion and
stood apart. Every day they used to fight over some issue and this lead to
physical expression of anger. Since John knew that he had greater number of men
on his side he decided to put aside Ananias. He acted as ruler of Jerusalem.
The chief priest Ananias regretted to have let John so far to have an upper
hand in his city. So Ananias thought deeply of some way to get rid of John once
for all. Then he found out a way for the same and thought of the terrorist
Simon Barkiyora.
Simon
Barkiyora…….. Though this person is portrayed as a terrorist, he was just a
wandering culprit in his early days. He started to rob and steel money in a
small level for his day to day living and later had this as his routine
business. He collected men in his robbery gang and they depicted a strong zeal
for patriotism which paved way for them to turn into terrorist. Even the strong
terrorist gang in Jerusalem feared the tremendous growth of Simon Barkiyora as
a terrorist. Still Ananias feared that if he joined hands with this gang then
he would become an enemy for the Romans and hence kept away from Simon
Barkiyora. In fact in the early days, Ananias sent his men to chase out Simon
Barkiyora and control him from becoming more and more efficient in the city.
But when he knew that he had escaped and ran away it gave him peace.
During
the same time in 70 AD, Titus had come from Rome and surrounded Jerusalem on
all sides with his huge army. Terrorist John understood the difficult situation
and did a foolish act. He burnt up a huge amount of corn and food which could
last for many years. He did this with an intention that this act would force
all the people of Jerusalem to take up any weapon possible in their hands and
fight against the Romans since there would be no other way of survival. In the
same way Simon looted the remaining corn and food in the city. Hence there was
a great fight between the men of John and Simon. Many were killed. But the
people who suffered the most were the public, traders and the tourist who had
come there at that point of time. Those who escaped from Jerusalem were caught
by the Romans and were crucified and killed mercilessly.
On an
average of 500 of them were crucified on a daily basis. Hence the people of
Jerusalem suffered terribly for they could not stay within the city nor were
they able to leave the city. They did not have food or water and were starved
to death. They could neither live nor die and lived a pathetic life which could
not be described in words. All these troubles were unbearable and men and
women, children and old people shouted and cried aloud in pain. “Someone,
please save us and take us out of this city to a safe place…..” was the cry of
the people of Jerusalem and this was heard several miles out of the city.
Amidst this painful situation the people who were killed in the internal war
were many. There was no one to bury these people, nor was there any place to
bury them. So, these dead bodies rotted in the streets and the smell was
unbearable, this eventually lead to the spread of disease and plague.
In
this tough situation Eliasar Benyayir escaped from Jerusalem along with his
men. Many warriors and general public followed him and fell a prey to the sharp
swords of the Romans. Eliasar Benyayir hid himself along with his men in the
fort of Masada. Some of the people of Jerusalem who escaped the swords of the
Romans followed Eliasar and hid in the fort of Masada since they did not have
any other place to go. Titus made the encampment around Jerusalem even stronger
and his activities became sever day by day. This encampment lasted for seven
months. According to his instructions many sliding platforms were laid around
the fort of Jerusalem.
The beginning of the destruction of Jerusalem
The Romans swarmed inside Jerusalem using the
slanting platforms and ladders like bees and ants. They were so many in numbers
and were so fierce in their attack. They mercilessly killed anyone they saw and
did not spare even women and children. Great cries of agony and pain was heard
all over Jerusalem. Also the great gates of Jerusalem were opened and hence
countless number of Roman soldiers marched in and killed the people of
Jerusalem. According to the orders of Titus they killed men and women, children
and old people and they did not spare anyone. If the person was not a Roman
then the person was killed. Once John and Simon came to know that the Romans
had entered the city, they protested them standing in front of the temple of
Jerusalem. All the three gates of the temple of Jerusalem were shattered and
the people were slaughtered all over. Many places were burnt down and the
famous temple of King Solomon was also set on fire. The whole city of Jerusalem
was burnt and the fire blazed high above the city. There was great chaos all
over the city and people ran to save their lives. They did not know where to go
for there was danger on all sides. Some people climbed the fort walls and
jumped down on the other side but still danger awaited them there too. The
Roman soldiers who waited around the fort caught them and killed them. Those
who managed to escape were severely wounded and most of them had lost their
hands or legs and suffered severe injuries.
All
of a sudden a rumor spread among the people, that the people of Jerusalem are
carrying gold and silver and precious stones from the temple of Solomon along
with them. Moreover it was said that people have swallowed precious stones and
trying to escape. This was more than enough to add fuel to the burning fire of
revenge in the hearts of the Romans. They caught the Jews and cut open their
stomach to search for such precious stones. They did not spare anyone, even
children. Everyone was killed by their stomach being cut open alive. The Romans
collected all that was available from the Jews.
The
whole temple of King Solomon blazed in the fire and thus all the gold which was
used on the walls and pillars melted. All the melted gold got deposited on the
cracks on the temple walls. All those who were able to collect this gold
collected it and for this they even risked their lives. In order to gather this
gold they pushed down the walls to the ground. Thus the beautiful temple was
destroyed exactly in the same way as Jesus Christ had foretold. ‘This
temple will be destroyed in such a way that not one stone will stand on
another….’ This verse came true. Also the Jews stood on top of the walls of
this temple and pushed the walls on the Romans who came to attack them. In this
way the temple and its walls were destroyed. The people who were killed during
the destruction of the Jerusalem temple were approximately 1, 10,000. The
destruction of the temple, the fall of Jerusalem and the fate of the people of
Jerusalem was exactly fulfilled in the way Jesus Christ had already foretold.
“ What
happened after that ???”asked Symphrosa with great eagerness.
“ Titus
who carried out the destruction of the city of Jerusalem was given an
additional responsibility to destroy the fort of Masada. This fort of Masada
was situated on the hills of the end part of Judea along the coast of Dead Sea.
King Herod had carved a whole hill into three phases and had built this fort.
He was such a great architect, that this fort of Masada was a great challenge
for the architects’ of all ages. King
Herod built the fort with all the latest facilities and was a mark of luxury
and comfort. The terrorist by name Eliasar who escaped from Jerusalem along
with his team mates and the public who ran out of Jerusalem to safeguard their
lives (including men women and children) were 960 in number and all of them
stayed in this fort Masada. Now Titus came to know about this and he sent an
army of 15000 Roman soldiers under the leadership of Lucius Flayius Silva. He
asked him to capture the people who took refuge in fort Masada. Accordingly
Lucius surrounded the bottom of the mountain on which the fort was located and
pressurized the people in the fort.
Because
of this, the terrorist who hid themselves in the fort became very tired. But
they waited for some kind of help to turn up from Jerusalem and there was no
chance for them to know that by then Jerusalem was turned to ashes. At this
point of time, Lucius built a slanting ladder from the bottom of the mountain
to reach to the top. Now Eliasar came to a conclusion that there was no chance
for them to escape from the Romans and hence he asked all the people in the
fort to commit suicide instead of getting caught in the hands of the Romans.
Accordingly ten men were selected and these ten men killed all the others
including their own family, relatives and friends. After this ten men remained
and of this one man was selected and he killed the other nine of them. At last
this one person committed suicide and died. This is a historical fact. The
Romans who struggles hard to reach to the top of the fort were greatly
disappointed and shocked to see the entire lot of people dead on the ground. So
they did not consider this Masada fort as one among their victory points.
“What
happened next???” asked Symphrosa, impatiently. “Titus returned to Rome with
the pride of having destroyed Jerusalem and suppressing the Jews. He also
returned with a lot of the looted gold and precious stones from Judea. Thus he
returned home triumphantly and joyfully. Once he returned to Rome, he was
crowned as the king since his father had died by then. As a memorial of his great victory over the
Jews an arch was built in Rome which contained the models of all that he looted
from Jerusalem and Judea. The seven golden lamp stand which was kept in the
most holy tabernacle in the Solomon temple was one of the models which were
placed in the arch. This lamp stand is called as Minora and it is made of pure
gold. Highly refined and pure olive oil is used to light this lamp. This lamp
is lit on special occasions. One more important fact about his lamp stand is,
when Jesus Christ was a baby and was presented in the temple, this Minora was fully
lit.”
As he
finished the story at this point, their last son Eugene shouted aloud out of
fear in his sleep. Symphrosa immediately picked him up and held him in her arms
and comforted him.
She
said, “Oh my sweet heart…. Eugene dear…. Why are you crying my son…? Did you
have any bad dream???”
Her
son replied, “Yes mom…. I had a dream which was so real as if it was taking
place in reality…” Symphrosa said, “Is
it so my son… go on and tell me your dream exactly as you saw.”
Trembling with fear Eugene said, “Mom I saw
a dark huge man cut me into two with a large sharp sword right from my head to waist so
that my body was cut into two pieces.”
Symphrosa’s
husband asked him, “What did you do at that time Eugene?”
Eugene
said, “ I just closed my eyes tight out of fear dad…..”
His
father said, “My dear son Eugene, though this was a dream, you should never
fear for anything in your life. You are my son…. The son of a great army
general…. Son of a brave warrior…. Fear should never rule you…. You should not
fear even in your dream. Next time if you have such a dream, tell your opponent
to come and attack you if he had the guts to do so and stand firm and brave.
Did you understand?” as he was listening to his father speak, Eugene fell
asleep.
“Oh
my dear…. This is exactly the reason why we should not talk such stories when
children are around us. Knowingly or unknowingly they will get scared and this
is what will happen. Ok now shall we continue the story? Tell me what happened
after that?” asked Symphrosa.
The
terrorists John and Simon were arrested and taken as captives to Rome. They
were tied to chains and were dragged on the streets of Rome in a very
disgraceful manner. They were charged with the crime of offence against the
government and were kept as prisoners in Mamertine prison. Apostle Peter and
Apostle Paul were kept in this Mamertine prison only. John was sentenced to be
in prison till his death and he suffered and died in prison. But terrorist
Simon was sentenced to immediate death and he was thrown upside down from
Darian Mountain. His head was broken to pieces and he had a miserable
death.
“My
God feel very sorry to know that the first freedom fight of the Jews was so
miserable and painful….” Said Symphrosa. Her husband interrupted and said, “My
dear though the first freedom fight of the Jews was a terrific disaster, their
second freedom fight was even worse. This was because I was there when the
second freedom fight of the Jews took place and I have witnessed with my own
eyes the pitiable situation and sufferings of the Jews at that time. This was
one of the important moments which paved the way for me to accept Jesus Christ
as my savior.”
Symphrosa
opened her eyes in great surprise and said, “Is it so…. You mean to say that
you too had a hand in tormenting the Jews? Why did you do so? How did you do?
Come on tell me soon…..” Her husband calmed her and said, “My dear I too was a
person against Christianity. But the moment when I had a chance to touch and
carry the cross of Jesus Christ on Mount Calvary, that very moment I accepted
Jesus Christ in my heart and became a Christian…… I turned to be a good and god
fearing man…. Yes my dear I became a true Christian after that….. That is a
long story…. Hope you would be very eager to listen to it.”
115 AD - Kitos Rebellion.
“ Exactly after forty five years after the
first freedom fight of the Jews that is during the year of 115 AD the Jews
somehow managed to get together and gather their men to fight against a huge
and powerful Roman army. But they did not have a proper leader to guide them
and also did not have enough resources to safeguard them and hence the second
freedom fight was a great disaster. This incident is mentioned as Kitos mutiny
in history and a huge number of Jews were killed in it. Since I was an army
general of a squad, I was on duty in Jerusalem and Judea. It was during that
time I had the chance to go to mount Calvary where their church was located.
There I saw some arrogant Roman soldiers and some pious Christians engaged in a
heated argument. I saw the Christians struggle to protect the cross on
which Jesus Christ was crucified which the Roman soldiers were trying to
destroy. Within a few seconds I saw the Romans break the bottom of the cross
using an axe. I immediately rushed and caught hold of the cross before it could
fall to the ground. At that moment I had a rare feeling which I could not
explain in words. Though that cross was made of wood, the moment it fell on me,
I felt that someone hugged me close to them. I did not share this rare feeling
of mine with anyone because they will not believe and moreover they will make
fun of it. So I kept it a secret in my heart. From that day onwards I visited
mount Calvary every day and touched and hugged the cross. I had great happiness
in my heart whenever I hugged the cross. But I wanted to share this experience
with someone and hence met some Christian monks and shared my experience with
them. These monks told me about Jesus Christ, his death on the cross, his
resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. As long as I lived in
Jerusalem, I visited all the important places related to Jesus Christ, his
forefathers and all the holy places of the Christians and felt a great change
in my heart. Once I clearly understood that Jesus Christ is the only true God and
I took baptism in the same place where Jesus Christ was baptized. My baptism
name was Getulius “.
By
this time there were a lot of changes in the Roman government. King Trajan died
without an heir to the throne, his relative Adrian was crowned as king of Rome.
Along with this I too returned from Palestine to be here with our family. Then
all of us as a family took baptism and became Christians. Five years have
passed and still it is so fresh as if it had happened yesterday. Am I right my
dear?”
“Yes
my dear…. But don’t think you can wind up the story at this point….. Please do
tell me about your king Adrian….”
Her
husband replied, “You have decided not to sleep this whole night…. Ok now
listen…. King Adrian is truly a talented administrator. He has sound wisdom and
knowledge and is highly qualified in education, art, politics, astrology,
astronomy, medicine, and science. But there is one displeasing quality in him.
If he finds that someone is better than him, he will call that person to his
court and question his wisdom and knowledge. If he finds the person to be
better than him in wisdom, he will immediately kill him. This is the reason no
one will let him know their talents. Also King Adrian has a high memory power.
He is so good in memory that he will call each one of his soldiers by their
name. Since he has a thorough knowledge of all his men right from his servant
up to his minister, no one can get things done through recommendation. He even
knows my name. He usually calls me Keisthulu. From the begining I had
introduced myself as Getulius. King Adrian is also called as a
traveler, since he would constantly visit the places of his kingdom to ensure
law and order. He is the direct head of the army. He never gives chance for the
growth of his enemies and thus he will constantly visit places to ensure
everything is under control.”
At this point Symphrosa spoke up saying,
“Wait… Wait…. You have told all about his talented administration. But why is
it that he does not have children? You too are an army general. Still you love
me so much and we have such beautiful children. Why is it that he does love his
wife? Do you know anything about this?”
_01.jpg)
Her
husband said, “All men are the same when it comes to love. Distance is the
motivating factor of love. But I am surprised that the king and the queen Vibia
Sabina are not in good terms with each other. They do not get along with each
other. His wife is his close relative and also she is ten years younger to him.
Once the queen got conceived, but she herself aborted the child and no one knew
the reason. When the king came to know this, he roared in rage at her.
But the queen gave a calm and stern reply, ‘You are such an arrogant man and I
will never bear another arrogant child in my womb. I will never give you a
child’ this was the only reply from the queen.
Because
of this abortion queen Vibia Sabina died. By the time King Adrian could forget
the death of his dear wife, he did an unusual thing which was a great surprise
for all.”
Symphrosa
interrupted, “oh come on…. I know that surprise… why everyone could easily
guess that surprise…. King Adrian would have married a beautiful young woman
and replaced the dead queen….. Am I right? This is what every widower does….”
Her
husband replied, “No my darling…. I know you will not be able to guess what King
Adrian did… he did not marry again but instead he adopted a young man as his
son and heir to the throne. His name was Antinos.”
So
Symphrosa said, “What is wrong in this? I think reason that the dead queen said
for not bearing him a child must have made a deep impact in his heart. He too
must have convinced him that the reason was true. So must have decided to adopt
a son.”
Her
husband replied, “of course I too won’t say that adopting a person is a bad
idea. But I hear frequent rumors that the king is using this young man to
satisfy his selfish physical pleasures.”
Symphrosa gave a disgusted look and said,
“What nonsense…. Such a cheap behavior… for a king to behave like this is
unacceptable…. Why is he doing so… are there not pretty woman in this world?”
Her husband smiled and said, “It is all
because of the beauty in the face of that young man Antinos. These things are
very common among kings. But this relationship also did not last long.”
“Why
what happened to that boy?” asked Symphrosa.
“Once
King Adrian and his adopted son Antinos went to Egypt. As they were sailing in
River Nile, Antinos accidently slipped and fell into the river. The crocodiles
in the river ate him up as the king and his men watched him die unable to help
him. This incident struck the kings heart with deep sorrow. But after some time
it was found out that Antinos fell into the river as an act of suicide since he
came to know that the king earned a bad name because of him. After this
incident King Adrian lived the rest of his life all alone. Oh my God, it is too
late…. Come on go to sleep Symphrosa…” said her husband. But this lovable
couple did not know that it was the last night they slept together.
The
next day, Amantius the brother of Getulius, brought news which was a
great shock to both of them. This was the news: King Adrian has returned from
his official visit. All the Jews who were living under the control of the Roman
government were involved in freedom fight and hence this has aroused the anger
of the king. Hence the king has decided to suppress the agitation among the
Jews and for this he has once again planned to go to Syria and Palestine.
Moreover the king hated to hear the very name of the Jews. As far as King
Adrian is concerned, he treated the Jews and the Christians alike. He hated
them both. He considers the Greek language, culture, religion as the best in
the world. All the other gods and religions are false. Hence all the people
under his span of control should worship the Greek gods and follow the Greek
religion only. The king is very firm in this.
A
heated argument took place in the official court. These were the information
given by Amantius. Since Amantius was in charge of a group of soldiers in the
palace, he was able to find out all these information and intimate Getulius.
“My
dear brother, it is good that you are still in the key post in the palace. Go
ahead and tell us more of all that you know” said Getulius.
“My
dear brother, the Greek priests and high priest have planned to offer all the
Jews and Christians to their Greek gods. A list of all the important men of the
city is being collected. This is a black day for the Jews and the Christians. I
even heard your name brother. The king knows you personally. What are you going
to do?” asked Amantius.
Getulius replied,
“Of course these are bad times for Christians and Jews. But I am not going to
deny Lord Jesus Christ who hugged me through the cross on mount Calvary. You do
one thing. Take my wife and my seven sons with you and keep them safe in my
farm house in Tivoli. The Lord will take care of the rest. Leave right now… do
not waste time...” So Symphrosa quickly left to her husband’s farm house
in Tivoli along with her seven sons. The place Tivoli is 18 miles from Rome.
As Getulius
had expected an officer from the King by name Carealis had come to arrest him
and take him to the king. When Getulius explained to him why he had denied the
Roman gods and accepted Jesus Christ as his god, Carealis was surprised. At
that moment Lord Jesus Christ opened the eyes of this general Carealis.
Immediately Carealis accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and God. So he turned
to the guards who had accompanied him and told them to inform the king that he
had resigned his job.
This
information was passed on to the king. So the king sent another officer by name
Primitivus to arrest Getulius. So Primitivus came to arrest Getulius and take
him to the king. But he too accepted Jesus Christ as his god and savior and
resigned his job. When the king was informed of this, the king had a doubt. The
king’s spy informed the king that Amantius the brother of Getulius was
also a Christian. Hence all the four of them, Getulius, Amantius, Carealis,
and Primitivus were arrested and brought for trial before the king.
The
King looked at them and said, “Getulius, Amantius, Carealis, and
Primitivus all the four of you served as army generals in my kingdom. All of
you are very well aware that Christinaniy is banned in our country and
following the same will be considered as a great offence against breaking the law.
Then why are you people following it? Are you not afraid of me? Do you know the
punishment for this offence? And I am surprised that Carealis and Primitivus
who never knew anything about Christianity up to yesterday have now accepted
that religion…..what made you accept this religion? How is this possible?
Why???? Alright let the past be forgotten… I give you all another chance taking
into account your sincere service. I forgive you. Go ahead and deny
Christianity and worship our Roman and Greek gods right now. I will spare your
lives and give back your authority. Also I will give you greater rewards. What
do you say? You will never get a chance like this? Think well and decide.”
“We
ask your pardon Lord. We will never accept any other gods as gods as we
strongly believe that Jesus Christ is the only true god. We are firm in our
decision” said the four loyal generals.
The
king gave a sarcastic smile and said, “So all of you have decided to accept the
torments and the death that would follow, am I right? So then why do we wait?
Let the torture begin” said King Adrian. All those tortures began in front of the temple of the Roman God Hercules.
The
Romans used levers to carry heavy stones and building materials to build their
tall buildings easily. They used these levers and removed the bone joints of
the four army generals. This was very painful and just words will not be
sufficient to explain their agony. But still the four of them stood firm in
their faith and did not give up. The torments did not end there. They were tied
to stone pillars and were scourged till all their blood ran out of their body.
This kind of torture continued for twenty seven days. Then they were taken to
the king. Flammable oil was applied on their bodies, and then they were wrapped
in jute sacks. Flammable oil was applied on the jute sacks which covered them.
Then they were set on fire. This fire burned them for one whole day. But
nothing could harm them. The fire burned and died but the four of them remained
unhurt by the grace of Jesus Christ. The king was surprised to see this. But
this aroused his anger to greater heights and he gave a severe punishment,
“Take
all these four men and cut of their heads and kill them.” Accordingly the four
of them were beheaded and killed on June 10th 120 AD. The Roman
church honored the four brave witnesses by giving them the title of martyrs.
When Symphrosa came to know of her husband’s
brave death, she got his body secretly and buried it near her farm house. Then
King Adrian stopped his pursuit for killing Christians and took rest for one
year. By this time he had the information that the Jews in Palestine have begun
their freedom fight and hence came to Palestine to settle the dispute. Now it
was ten years since Symphrosa’s husband died. King Adrian went to many places
and returned to Palestine after his long official tour.
The third freedom fight of the Jews.
Although
the Jews fought their first freedom fight in 70 AD followed by their second
freedom fight in 115 AD and failed in their attempt, they did not give up and
prepared themselves to fight their third freedom fight. This time they prepared
themselves and their army several times better than before. They were cautious
to avoid any of the previous mistakes they had done in the previous freedom
struggle. Above all they chose a good and capable leader this time. Shymon barkoba
was the leader of the Jewish army and led the third freedom fight. Along with
him all the freedom struggle teams joined hands and got ready to oppose the
Romans. They signed respective agreements also. This freedom fight under the
leadership of Shymon bar koba lasted for three years. The sudden and fierce
Gorilla attack of the Jewish captain made King Adrian face defeat this time. In
order to set right the situation, King Adrian sought the help of the Syrian and
Egyptian armies. The great roman battalion by name 22nd Theorithina
and 9th Hispania were completely destroyed. This resulted in
heavy loss of armed men. This made King Adrian to lose his temper and he
commanded intensive attack on the Jews. This time the Jews suffered defeat. One
by one they lost all the forts they had won from the hands of the Romans. The
Jewish captain could not withstand the deadly attack of the Romans and hence he
hid himself in fort Pithar. By that time the most fearsome battalion of the
Romans by name 5th Massidonian and 11th Caludian
surrounded fort Pithar and made the situation for the Jews worse.
The
rest of the roman army destroyed the 1000 Jewish cities and demolished 50 forts
completely. The only fort that was left over was fort of Pithar. Towards the
end this fort also was destroyed. A historical record states that approximately
6, 00,000 Jews were killed in this third freedom fight. Shymmon bar koba who
was called as the Messiah, the most trustworthy captain and the bright morning
star was killed. During this war the Romans killed all their enemies including
women, children, old people and anyone who was not a Roman.
The
great city of Jerusalem fell off from its glory. It was burnt to ashes. There
is no end to describe the pitiable state of the city of Jerusalem. In a
nutshell, the great city of Jerusalem fell down to ashes. The important heads
of the city and the chief priests lost their respect and dignity. They were
insulted and were sold as slaves. The status of women was even worse. It was
similar to the situation where the Babylonians captured the people of Jerusalem
and took them to their place as slaves. Hence the status of this third freedom
fight was even worse than the first freedom fight. This kind of a disaster was
never before seen in the history of the Jews, that was the extent to which king
Adrian expressed his bitterness and revenge on the Jews.
This
incident is recorded in the Jewish history as THE JEWS DIOSPORA which means the
banishment of the Jews from Jerusalem. King Adrian paid a personal visit to the
demolished buildings of the city. At one point he promised to rebuild the
temple of Jerusalem to the Jews who remained in the city. But his heart was
confused by the spies who had come from Samaria. These spies advised King
Adrian not to show any interest in rebuilding the temple. Hence the king
listened to them and dropped the idea of rebuilding the temple. Instead he
ordered to place his own statue in the place of the temple. King Adrian could
not forget the damage the Jews caused to his army and the amount of soldiers he
had lost. Hence his heart burned with vengeance and so he gave strict orders
that the Jews should not enter the city nor conduct any sort of worship to
their gods. He prohibited the practice of the Jewish religion and also the
practice of circumcision, people were forbidden to neither read their holy book
Torah nor even touch the same.
He
knew very well how much this would fan the fire burning in the hearts of the
Jews. He did not stop with this. He destroyed the cross on mount Calvary and
its surroundings and established the statue of his god Jupiter. He also
destroyed the holy place of the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem and built a
temple for the goddess of love by name Venus. He ploughed the entire city of
Jerusalem with the help of oxen and said that hence forth this city will be in
this manner only and as a sign he released a coin. 
He completely removed the
name of Jerusalem and renamed it as Aliyus capital in honor of his Jupiter
god. He also set up huge pillars similar to that of Roman culture and
renamed all the street names of Jerusalem. He renamed Judea as little
Palestine.
The Jews who survived all these disasters
could not do anything else other than to lean on their old wall of Jerusalem
and shed tears. After successfully completing the third Jewish freedom fight he
returned to Rome in 135 AD and resumed his administration. He built a beautiful
palace at Tivoli which was situated 18 miles from Rome.
[The city of
Tivoli is a beautiful place situated on the hills. The river by name Anio has
its birth place in this mountain and it falls down step by step forming
beautiful waterfalls and rushes towards the plains and merges with the river
Tiber. Hence the waterfalls of this river were well known for their beauty.
Hence the Roman kings, people of high rank and rich men built beautiful
palaces, gardens and guest houses in this mountainous region and spent their
leisure time there. King Adrian had a beautiful palace in
this place. Symphrosa also had a beautiful villa and farm in this region which
shows her richness and the wealth of her husband.]
But the palace which King
Adrian had built was not complete and lacked perfection. Hence King Adrian
sought the help of magicians and fortune tellers. These people with the help of
magical powers said, “The lady by name Symphrosa and her seven sons are living
in this city and they are worshiping their god Jesus Christ which causes a lot
of irritation to us. Hence if they deny Christianity and worship us then we
will help you to complete your palace.”
The
very next moment King Adrian who hated Christianity and Jews from the bottom of
his heart ordered Symphrosa and all her seven sons to be arrested and brought
before him.
The
moment he saw Symophrosa he said to himself, “Oh is this Symphrosa???? Is Getulius her
husband???? He was one of my very brave army generals. So it is his farm house
which is situated next to my palace….. How come I did not know this all these
days? Any way better late than never…. I never knew she would be so rich and
wealthy…. Any way I will handle her and her property”
Symphrosa
who expected such a situation in her life had trained her seven sons in perfect
Christian faith and way of life. King Adrian, Symphrosa and her seven sons were
present before the temple of Hercules in the city of Rome. The trial began.
“Symphrosa….
I had advised your husband enough and still he refused to listen to me and
hence had a tragic end. I need not explain it to you as you know it very well.
You are the mother of seven sons. I hope at least you will take a wise decision
unlike your husband. As the custom of Rome, accept me and our Roman gods
Jupiter and Hercules as your god and worship us. Just turn to the great statue
of Hercules and anoint him with salt and honey. That is all I want you to do”
said King Adrian.
Symphrosa
replied, “My Lord…. I know very well all that happened to my brave husband.
Even my children know his end and all that he suffered. But still we would
follow him to death and will never abide by your words.”
The
King replied, “Oh Symphrosa, I never expected you to take such a foolish
decision as your husband did. Have you lost your senses? Are you not the mother
of these seven children? Did you think of your children future? They have to
live…. Life awaits them….. Don’t be foolish like your husband… think well and
then give your reply.”
“My
Lord, though my husband’s decision might seem foolish, I know that he stood for
the love of our dear Lord and savior Jesus Christ. He died as a witness of his
love for Christ. I would like to offer my life as a sacrifice to Jesus Christ
along with my seven sons. We prefer the great life we will have in heaven along
with Jesus and my husband. So there is no change in my decision” said
Symphrosa.
The
king continued further and said, “Symphrosa you are not an ordinary woman. You
have enough wealth to own a farm house just next to mine. All this wealth
belongs to your sons after you. It is the source of their happy future. Will
any mother spoil the good and bright future of her own sons? If you decide to
die along with your sons then all those property will be possessed by someone
else. Do not spoil the future of your children. Think and speak.”
Symphrosa
gave a calm and firm answer, “My Lord…. The wealth of this world is an
illusion, it is not permanent…. It will not give us eternal satisfaction. What
does a man profit, if he gains the whole world and ruins himself? My God is the
head of all times. Past, present and future belongs to him. We were created not
to enjoy these perishable earthly pleasures but to live and die as witness to
him so that we will enjoy eternal blessings in heaven. So do not waste you time
to convince me by showing these earthly wealth.”
Now
the king had lost his patience and said angrily,
“Symphrosa….
You are testing my patience. I am the king of this vast kingdom and you are the
citizen under my control. I am your god…. You have to accept me and worship me
as your god. You must worship any god whom I command you to worship. It is your
duty as a Roman citizen to listen and abide by the law of the king. If you
still refuse to obey my command then I will go to the extent of burning you
alive……”
Listening
to all that the king said, Symphrosa was still calm and said, “My Lord I do not
worry about all this. I am not afraid of you nor am I afraid to die. For it is
written in the Holy Gospel, ‘do not dread and be afraid of those who kill the
body and after that have nothing more that they can do. Fear him who, after
killing has power to hurl into hell.’ I am the citizen under your control. You
can kill me but you cannot decide my life after death. It is in the hands of my
master. Hence instead of being burnt in the eternal fire of hell I prefer to
get burnt up here on earth for a few moments to bear witness to my Lord Jesus
Christ. But I once again warn you, you will never be able to burn up my soul.
The smoke from my burnt body will rise to my God as incense which would be more
pleasing to him.”
“Enough
and stop your nonsense here Symphrosa. You had your chance and you failed to
use it. I will burn you and all your seven sons and build my palace on your
ashes. You have aroused the anger of my gods and you have insulted me to a
great extent. You will have the right reward for this” roared the king in
anger.
Symphrosa
said, “Let your will be done. I am indeed happy about it. Burn me and my seven
sons and build your palace on our ashes. But let me remind you that one day you
too will meet death and your lifeless body will turn to ashes. On that day the
great palace you build will never accept your ashes. Once a man is dead, he is
not even called by his name but is called as corpse. On that day this palace of
yours will turn out to be a grave yard. But I will go to heaven along with my
seven sons and join with my husband and my Lord and live a life of eternal
happiness and glory. Keep this in mind …..”
“How
dare you curse the king….. I will show you a good lesson my lady. Your curse is
nothing before my great gods. Guards! Guards! Take this arrogant woman and whip
her till she dies” said the king. Accordingly
the soldiers caught hold of Symphrosa and tied her up by her hair and whipped
her mercilessly. She received countless whips on her face and her condition was
pathetic.
Still
she said, “My dear children…. My beloved sons…. Do not fear on seeing this
condition of mine. This suffering of mine is nothing compared to that of our
Lord Jesus Christ when He was tied to the stone pillar and scourged. Remember
the words of Apostle Paul…. ‘For I consider that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed
to us ad in us and for us. Do not hesitate to take part in the sufferings of
Christ. I consider it a great privilege to take part in the sufferings of
Christ. So do not fear… the Lord will be with you.”
On
hearing these fire filled words of Symphrosa, King Adrian commanded the
soldiers to take her and tie a huge rock to her neck and drown her in the river
Anio. Accordingly, on June 18th, a huge rock was tied to Symphrosa’s
neck and she was thrown to the depths of river Anio and was killed. Jesus
Christ gave her the crown of martyr and honored her. Symphrosa’s Brother Eugene
who saw all that happened to her took her remains and buried them alongside her
martyred husband in the city of Tivoli. He could not bear to see the battered
and torn body of Symphrosa, her disfigured face which was once the example of
beauty. Since he had to bury her in secret he was not even able to cry aloud to
pour out his sorrow.
In
the later days the Christians built a church in the place where she was buried
and the church still stands in memory of her. Now we will see what happened to
the sons of these brave parents.
King
Adrian who was so rude to Symphrosa was very kind to her sons. He called her
elder son Crescens and said, “Crescens…. You are the eldest of the seven
brothers. I pity your condition and considering that you are now a young man, I
give you a chance to decide whether to stand for Jesus Christ and lose your
life or to give up Jesus Christ and live a happy life…. Do not waste your youth
and life for some unknown God Jesus….. your life awaits…. You have enough
wealth and all that you want…I too will give you all that you want so that you
will have the best part of your life here on earth. There is just one condition
you have to obey to enjoy this great life…. Just take that salt and honey and
anoint the Greek god Hercules. Do not hesitate…. Go on young man….”
“My
Lord thanks for your kind advice. As you said I am the eldest son of the family
and I should be more careful in showing the right way for my brothers to
follow. I will never show them the wrong way. I will follow the example of my
Lord Jesus Christ who is the good shepherd who leads his sheep in the right way
to the Promised Land. You will never succeed in showing me all the wealth of
this world. They are nothing compared to the love of my Lord. I will follow the
example of my parents and die as a witness to Jesus Christ. Long live the King
of Kings Jesus Christ,” was the reply given by Crescen.
This
brought great disgrace to King Adrian and he shouted, “You insolent fool…. You
are as foolish as your parents…. How dare you speak against my words? You wanted
to show the right path to your brothers, is it? Now I will ensure that the way
you are tormented will show the right path to them. Call that Ethiopian
Masdoor.”
This
Masdoor was a slave of King Adrian and also his secret spy. His looks were
fearful and he was a very good hunter. He was very brave and hence he was like
the kinsman for King Adrian. He came and bowed down before the king in respect.
“Masdoor…..
Show your power and might to this fool…. Set apart his joint bones from his
hands and legs,” said Adrian.
Accordingly Crescens was made to sit on a
wooden chair and all his joint bones were set apart. The king looked at him and
said, “You brave young man…. Is it painful? What do you say now? Just accept to
offer sacrifice to my god and I will spare your life. What do you say?”
Crescens
gave a brave reply, “Oh dear king, there are many more joints in my body. Even
if you are to set apart all the joints I will never worship your false gods.”
The
King sighed and said, “It is no use trying to convince you… you have chose your
fate. Masdoor let us not waste our time. Take you knife and kill him with it.”
So
Masoor took out his knife and pierced Crescens from one side of the neck
through the other. Thus Crescens died as a martyr.
Followed
by Crescens, his second brother Julian was called for. The king directly asked
him, “Do not be a fool like your brother. Listen to me and I will give you all
the wealth of this world. You will have a happy life and I will ensure it. What
do you say?” Julian said,
“Get
away from me Satan….. you are trying to deceive me from being loyal to my
master and god Jesus Christ. I will follow the footsteps of my parents and
brother. A tree is known by its fruits and I will bear good fruits like my
parents and brother. Do as you wish and never expect me to obey you.”
“So you have decided to follow your brother?
Have you?” asked the king.
“Yes my Lord, there is no change in my
decision” said Julian.
“Masdoor,
do to him all that was done to his brother” said the king. So Masdoor set apart
all his joints and pierced a sword through his heart. Julian died as a martyr.
The
next person was Nemesius. Now King Adrian lost his patience and directly asked
him, “Come on young man, how you wish to die?”
Nemesius
replied, “My King, my life is in the hands of my Lord and I wish to die the way
my Lord wants me to die. That is the greatest privilege of my life.”
Adrian
caught hold of a spear from a soldier who stood next to him and pierced it
through Nemesius heart and killed him. Thus Nemesius died as a martyr.
The
next was Primitivus and he was brought before the king. King looked at him and said, “So you too wish
to follow the brave death of your brothers, am I right?”
Immediately
the king looked at his slave Masdoor and even before the king could say
anything, Masdoor understood the kings command from the way he looked at him.
He came and set apart all the joints of Primitivus and a soldier cut his
stomach with a sword. Primitivus died as a martyr.
The
next person was Justinus and he was presented before the king. Once again the
king calmed himself and said, “My dear son Justinus, did you see the way your
brothers died? Are you not afraid of this torment and death? So I hope you
would have changed your mind never to stand for Christianity any more. Am I
right?”
But
Justinus replied, “No my Lord, I am not afraid, I am in fact eager to die the
way they died. I am proud of them and I wish to follow them to eternal life.
Come on kill me quickly…”
So
the king called to his slave and immediately the slave understood his command
and set apart all the joints of Justinus. One of the soldiers came with a spear
and was about to pierce him through his heart. But King Adrian stopped him and
said, “Do not pierce him in this heart, then he will be hailed as a brave man.
Instead pierce him from behind through his heart so that people will call him a
coward.”
On
hearing this Justinus said, “Oh King Adrian, I thought that you were a brave
king. But now I know that you are a coward. I wanted to die a brave man but you
kill me like a coward….” But before he could complete his speech, the soldier
pierced him from behind and killed him. He died as a martyr. But these last
words of Justinus were a great insult for the king.
The
next person was Stracteus. The king looked at him and said, “Stracteus …. I
hope at least you will…..” Even before he could complete the sentence Stracteus
said, “Your highness….please do kill me immediately.” The next moment a soldier
came and pierced him with a sword from his right side chest up though his left
side. He too died as a martyr.
The
last in line was Eugene. The very look of Eugene made the king develop a soft
corner for him. He placed his hands on Eugene and said, “My dear son, I am so
much concerned of your life and future. I hope you will not disappoint me. I
will adopt you as my son. You will be the future king. Do not choose to suffer
and die and waste your life. So I don’t even want to ask anything to you. Come
let us go to my palace….”
But
Eugene replied, “Thanks for your consideration. I do not want your sympathy my
King. I don’t even like the way you called me as your son. You can never be my
father. In fact you killed my father, my mother and all my brothers. You are
not worthy to be even called as human being. You are an animal… blood thirsty
animal. You can never be my father. I will never listen to you….. You can never
deceive me. Don’t think that since I am the youngest you can fool me. The Holy
Spirit within me guides me in the right path. He explains to me what is right
and wrong, which truth is and which is false. So don’t waste your time to
convince me. You can go ahead and fulfill your evil desire. I wish to be the
son of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. For, your kingdom
will come to an end but His kingdom will never come to an end. Don’t waste your
time…. Go on my King”
King
Adrian could not tolerate this great insult. He expressed his anger in his
death sentence. He said, “you little boy… you have spoken more than all your
brothers. I pitied you considering your age…. But you speak more that what is
expected of you. I will never forget all that you said….. Your brothers spoke
bravely and died but what did they earn? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Now you
are joining the list of those fools and losing your life. Masdoor let his
punishment be worse than all his other brothers. Take your sword and cut him
into two pieces.”
But
Eugene was not moved at all by these fierce punishments. He said, “I am happy
to die by that way my King. But I pity you. You too will have a similar death. It
will not happen immediately. It will be a long lasting torture.” He told this
as a prophecy before he could die.
Masdoor stood before him with a sword and
asked him, “Eugene, are you afraid? If you are afraid then close your eyes.”
Eugene
replied, “I am not afraid. I knew the way I would die ten years ago. My father
has always told me to be brave in such situations. So I will not fear and I
will not close my eyes.” These brave words of Eugene were a great surprise for
Masdoor who had cut off the heads of so many brave warriors in the wars. He also feared the anger
of God and said, “Eugene I am sorry. Please do forgive me.”
Eugene
said, “May the Lord spare you from this sin. Go ahead and fulfill your duty.”
Masdoor
who never cried in all his life shed tears and hesitated. The king asked, “Why
do you delay Masdoor?”
He
then gave a reply, “It is over my Lord”. So saying he raised his sword high up
to the sky and in one swing cut Eugene into two parts from head to naval. Thus
Eugene was cleft into two parts and he died. Even after his death, Eugene’s
eyes were open and looked up at the sky.
Masdoor
said, “Eugene, forgive me.... truly you are a brave child.”
The
king commanded a big pit to be dug, far away from the temple of Hercules and
the bodies of all the seven brothers were buried there. In the later days, the
Christians brought the relics of these seven holy martyrs and built a church on
the way from Rome to Tivoli at a place called Tipurthian and kept it there.
This church still remains in memory of them.
138 AD – Tivoli
King Adrian built a beautiful palace as he
wished. But he could not stay there peacefully. The reason was not known and it
is guessed that it could be because of the curse of Symphrosa. The last days of
King Adrian were very miserable. The prophecy of Symphrosa’s last son Eugene
came true. King Adrian had a boil in his anus. As days went by it became bigger
and bigger and spread up to his hip and his hip tore into two pieces. Blood and
pus oozed out of this sore. This caused bad odor and hence no one wished to see
him. His agony grew worse day by day. None of the physicians could heal him.
Hence King Adrian could not tolerate that painful life and tried to commit
suicide. But he failed in all his attempts. He asked his official physician to
kill him using poison. But the physician refused and resigned his job. So he
turned to his slave Masdoor and pleaded with him to kill him. Tears rolled down
his cheeks as he cried in pain. Masdoor
knew what would happen if he killed the king. Hence he told the king to give
him permission to go the hill nearby and collect some herbs which would heal
him.
The
king also granted him permission to go. That very night Masdoor left the city
once for all. No one knew where he went. He fled for his life and was expected
to have hid himself in the dense forest of Abyssinia in Ethiopia. Knowing that
he could no longer live with this disease, nor could rule as a king in Rome or
even live in the palace in Tivoli, King Adrian announced Anthonio Pious as the
next king, since he did not have any children. He stepped out of his authority.
He spent the rest of his life in the coastal city of Payee which is near
Naples. In order to get rid of his disease he took various medicines but
nothing could heal him nor was he able to end his life. Also he was tormented
by the thought of the curse given by the last son of Symphrosa, Eugene. Day and
night he kept shouting in agony. On 138 AD, 10th July, he died
when he was 62 years of age. Before he could die he wrote his last sentence
which stated, “The physicians killed a great Roman King by their treatment”
The
way you live your life will decide the way you will die. You will reap what you
sow, accordingly King Adrian who killed so many Christian men and women
mercilessly, had a miserable death. After his death he was buried in Puthiyoli.
Later his remains were taken and burnt and his ash along with the ash of his
wife was taken to Rome and from there it was taken to his palace which he had
built in Tivoli. The ash was placed on top of the palace. Even the vessel which
bore the ashes of King Adrian could not remain in the palace. The palace also
became cursed. Later this palace became the grave yard and memorial of the
kings of Rome. The palace was also used as a place where men who had received
their death sentence were put to death. All the prophecies of Symphrosa came
true. An ancient history states that during the year 590 AD the city was struck
with plague and at that time the Archangel Saint Michael stood over this palace
with his sword. Once the people saw Archangel Saint Michael, the plague was
stopped. After this incident this palace became a museum and hence the ashes of
Adrian were taken away and the statue of Archangel Saint Michael was kept on
the top of the palace.
In
752 AD, the relics of Symphrosa, her husband and her seven sons were taken to
Rome and kept in St. Angelo’s church, in a box made of marble. It remained
there up to 1587 AD. Later this church was ruined and no one knew where the
relics of the family of Symphrosa were taken to. According to historical
information, in order to motivate the honor of this brave mother, her relics
along with the relics of her family members were taken to many foreign
countries. Some of them were even brought to India through the Jesuit priests (In
the year June 25, 1572). But due to lack of sufficient proof, the Catholic
Church has removed her name from the list of martyr saints. This is indeed a
sad status. But there is one more statement which states that the title of
saint which was given to her remains unaltered and there is no objection to go
ahead and to pay respect to her. Any way the people of Tivoli still believe
that Saint Symphrosa is their guardian saint of their parish.
Saint Symphrosa pray for us. Amen.
The
beautiful Adriatic Sea shined with added beauty on that day. Hundreds of ships
and small boats which sailed across the blue waves made the sea look like
heaven on earth. It was a beautiful sight from the fort of Otranto. It was a
vast sea and the entire surroundings were like a blue carpet spread for several
miles. One could easily see the depths of the sea and the living creatures in
it with his naked eyes. The water was so crystal clear and a further travel
into the sea would make anyone praise the mighty works of creation of God. 
At
an unexpected time the Byzantine army surrounded the city of Otranto. They were
approximately 15000 men who came to the city in 150 ships. They used the
Persian cannons which were widely used in war. No one or any fort could
withstand the attack with the help of Persian cannon. The Byzantine army
general Gedik Ahmed Pasha began his attack using these cannons. He sent a
message for the citizens of the place.
The bodies of these
brave martyrs did not decay up to the time they were buried in the church. This
is another miracle god has done to these martyrs. After many years their relics
were sent to many parts of the world. On 5th July 2007 Holy
Father, Pope Benedict 16 made arrangements for the declaration of the title of
saints for these 813 men. On 12th May 2013 Holy Father Pope
Francis declared them as saints and honored them. 