St Kallistratos the Martyr and his 49 Companions

Commemorated September 27

St Kallistratos was a native of Carthage. Neochoros, an ancestor of St Kallistratos, has served under the emperor Tiberius in Palestine, under the command of Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea, and was a witness to the suffering on the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, His voluntary death and glorious Resurrection. St Kallistratos' father was a Christian, and he raised his son in faith and piety. Also like his father, he became a soldier and excelled among his pagan military comrades by his good conduct and gentle disposition.

At night when everyone slept, he usually stayed up at prayer. Once, a soldier sleeping nearby heard St Kallistratos invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he reported this to the military commander, who in turn summoned Kallistratos, interrogated him and wanted to make him offer sacrifice to idols. To this, the Saint answered firmly with a resolute refusal. The military commander gave orders to beat the Saint and then, covered with wounds, to drag him over sharp stones. The beating and the torments did not sway the firm will and brave endurance of the sufferer. The torturer then gave orders to sew up the Saint in a leather sack and drown him in the sea. By Divine Providence, however, the sack struck a sharp rock tearing it, and he, carried by dolphins, came to dry land unharmed. Viewing such a miracle, 49 soldiers came to believe in Christ. Then the military commander threw St Kallistratos together with the believing soldiers into prison. Before this, all of them were subjected to innumerable floggings.

In jail St Kallistratos continued to preach the Word of God to the soldiers and he bolstered their spirits for martyrdom. Summoned again to the military commander, the sufferers firmly confessed their faith in Christ, after which they bound them hand and foot and threw them into a dam. However, there their bonds broke, and with bright faces, the holy martyrs stood in the water, rejoicing in their Baptism, which coincided with the act of martyrdom.

Above them were beautiful bright crowns, and all heard a voice, "Be brave, Kallistratos, with your company, and come rest in the eternal habitations". At the same time, the earth shuddered and an idol standing nearby fell down and smashed. Seeing this, another 135 soldiers also believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The military commander, fearing a mutiny in the army, did not put them on trial, but again imprisoned St Kallistratos with the others, where they fervently prayed and gave thanks to the Creator, for giving them power to endure such sufferings. At night, they cut the martyrs to pieces with swords by order of the military commander. The 135 soldiers who remained alive buried their holy relics. Later, a church was built on the spot of their sufferings, as St Kallistratos had foretold.