Saints Martyrs d'Amorium
42 personnes (+ 845)
Le calife de Bagdad avait
remporté la victoire contre les Byzantins et, après la prise de la ville
d'Amorium en Haute Phrygie, il fit passer les habitants au fil de l'épée ne
gardant prisonniers que quarante-deux officiers dans des conditions particulièrement
infectes. A leurs gardiens qui leur demandaient d'abjurer la foi chrétienne
pour être libérés, ils répondirent "Que feriez-vous si vous étiez à notre
place?" -"Nous changerions de religion, car il n'y a rien de plus
cher que la liberté." Pendant sept ans, ils préférèrent la prison pour le
Christ, à l'apostasie pour la liberté. Puis, ils furent condamnés à l'exécution
capitale. Sur les rives de l'Euphrate devant une foule venue assister à leur
exécution, ils s'avancèrent un à un, et sans crainte ni hésitation, ils
présentèrent leur tête au bourreau.
En Syrie, l’an 848, la
passion de quarante-deux saints martyrs, qui furent saisis par les Sarrasins à
Amorium de Phrygie, conduits jusqu’à l’Euphrate et, puisqu’ils refusaient de
renier la foi chrétienne, égorgés par l’épée.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/765/Saints-Martyrs-d-Amorium.html
Quarante-deux saints
martyrs d'Amorium
Au milieu du IXème
siècle, le calife de Bagdad avait remporté la victoire contre les Byzantins et,
après la prise de la ville d'Amorium en Haute Phrygie, il fit passer les
habitants au fil de l'épée ne gardant prisonniers que quarante-deux officiers
dans des conditions particulièrement insupportables. A leurs gardiens qui leur
demandaient d'abjurer la foi chrétienne pour être libérés, ils répondirent
"Que feriez-vous si vous étiez à notre place?" -"Nous changerions
de religion, car il n'y a rien de plus cher que la liberté." Pendant sept
ans, ils préférèrent la prison pour le Christ, à l'apostasie pour la liberté.
Puis, ils furent condamnés à l'exécution capitale en 845. Sur les rives de
l'Euphrate devant une foule venue assister à leur exécution, ils s'avancèrent
un à un et, sans crainte ni hésitation, présentèrent leur tête au bourreau.
Also
known as
Martyrs of Syria
Martyrs of Samarra
Profile
A group of 42 Christian senior
officials in the Byzantine empire who were captured by
forces of the Abbasid Caliphate when the Muslim forces overran the city of
Amorium, Phrygia in 838 and massacred or enslaved its
population. The men were imprisoned in
Samarra, the seat of the Caliphate, for seven years. Initially thought to be
held for ransom due to their high position in the empire, all attempts to buy
their freedom were declined. The Caliph repeatedly ordered them to convert to
Islam, and sent Islamic scholars to the prison to
convince them; they refused until the Muslims finally gave up and killed them. Martyrs.
We know the names and a
little about seven of them,
but details about the
rest have disappeared over time. However, a lack of information did not stop
several legendary and increasingly over-blown “Acts” to be written for
years afterward. One of the first biographers,
a monk name
Euodios, presented the entire affair as a judgement by God on the
empire for its official policy of Iconoclasm.
beheaded on 6 March 845 in
Samarra (in modern Iraq) on the banks of the Euphrates river by Ethiopian slaves
the bodies were thrown
into the river, but later recovered by local Christians and
given proper burial
large group of men (the
head count varies) dressed as imperial Byzantine courtiers
Additional
Information
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
sites
em português
MLA
Citation
‘Martyrs of
Amorium‘. CatholicSaints.Info. 4 March 2023. Web. 13 March 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-amorium/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-amorium/
42 Martyrs of Ammoria in
Phrygia
Commemorated on March
6
The Holy 42 Martyrs of
Ammoria: Constantine, Aetius (Aetitus), Theophilus, Theodore, Melissenus,
Callistus, Basoes and the others with them. During a war between the Byzantine
Emperor Theophilus (829-842) and the Saracens, the Saracens managed to besiege
the city of Ammoria (in Galicia in Asia Minor). As a result of treason on the
part of the military commander Baditses, Ammoria fell, and forty-two of its
generals were taken captive and sent off to Syria.
During the seven years of
their imprisonment they tried in vain to persuade the captives to renounce
Christianity and accept Islam. The captives stubbornly resisted all their
seductive offers and bravely held out against terrible threats. After many
torments that failed to break the spirit of the Christian soldiers, they condemned
them to death, hoping to shake the determination of the saints before executing
them. The martyrs remained steadfast, saying that the Old Testament Prophets
bore witness to Christ, while Mohammed called himself a prophet without any
other witnesses to support his claim.
They said to the soldier
Theodore, “We know that you forsook the priestly office, became a soldier and
shed blood in battle. You can have no hope in Christ, Whom you abandoned
voluntarily, so accept Mohammed.” But the martyr replied, “You do not speak
truthfully when you say that I abandoned Christ. Moreover, I left the
priesthood because of my own unworthiness. Therefore, I must shed my blood for
the sake of Christ, so that He might forgive the sins that I have committed
against Him.”
The executioners took
each one separately and led him off to be beheaded, then threw the bodies into
the River Euphrates. In the service to them, these holy passion-bearers are
glorified as: the “All-Blessed” Theodore, the “Unconquered” Callistus, the
“Valliant” Constantine, the “Wondrous” Theophilus and “the Most Strong” Basoes.
The betrayer Baditses did
not escape his shameful fate. The enemy knew that it is impossible to trust a
traitor, and so they killed him.
SOURCE : http://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/03/06/100672-42-martyrs-of-ammoria-in-phrygia
Santi Quarantadue
martiri di Siria Martiri di Amorio
Festa: 6 marzo
IX sec.
In un periodo di
conflitto tra l'Impero bizantino e il Califfato abbaside, la città di Amorio,
in Frigia, fu espugnata dai saraceni nel 838. Tra i prigionieri, 42 capi
militari e alti funzionari furono deportati in Mesopotamia e costretti a
convertirsi all'islam. Dopo sette anni di prigionia, rifiutarono ancora una
volta di abiurare e furono decapitati sulle rive dell'Eufrate. Le loro reliquie
furono recuperate dai cristiani e venerate come quelle di martiri.
Martirologio
Romano: In Siria, passione di quarantadue santi martiri, che, arrestati ad
Amorio in Frigia e condotti al fiume Eufrate, ottennero con un insigne prova la
palma del martirio.
La storia di s. Ezio è inserita nel martirio dei 42 martiri di Amorio nella Frigia. Al tempo dell’imperatore d’Oriente Teofilo l’Iconoclasta (829-842) le scorrerie degli arabi e le battaglie che si effettuavano per arginarne l’invasione in Asia Minore, erano i fatti predominanti della vita dell’Impero.
Ma il 24 settembre dell’838 il mondo cristiano subì l’umiliazione di vedere espugnata dai Saraceni la città di Amorio, che in quell’epoca godeva di particolare splendore, essendo la patria di Michele II imperatore, padre di Teofilo. La caduta fu imputata al tradimento del cristiano apostata Baditze, i saraceni manifestarono tutta la loro ferocia, una moltitudine di soldati e civili fu uccisa senza risparmiare donne e bambini, gran parte della popolazione fu deportata.Furono risparmiati e tradotti in Mesopotamia 42 fra capi militari e alti funzionari della città, sono conosciuti alcuni nomi: Teodoro Cratere, Costantino, Callisto funzionari, Teofilo e Bassoe patrizi, Ezio e Melisseno patrizi e generali.
Essi portati prigionieri in Siria, furono custoditi in prigioni oscure e luride a solo pane ed acqua. Venivano sollecitati continuamente ad apostatare a favore della religione di Maometto e messi a confronto con sapienti musulmani, ma questi tentativi furono vani. La penosa prigionia durò sette anni, finché nel marzo 845 dopo l’ultimo invito risultato negativo furono portati sulle rive dell’Eufrate e lì decapitati da carnefici etiopi.
Nel racconto dello storico bizantino Simora il Logoteta si racconta che fu ucciso anche il traditore Baditze, i loro corpi furono gettati nel fiume, ma i coccodrilli divorarono solo il corpo dell’apostata, mentre gli altri corpi con la testa riunita emersero dalle acque senza essere divorati, i cristiani del luogo li raccolsero e con amore e venerazione gli diedero sepoltura.
Nella vita dell’imperatore d’Oriente Basilio IV il Macedone (867-886) si afferma che nel palazzo reale fu costruito un oratorio in loro onore. Nei menei greci, la memoria dei 42 martiri di Amorio è posta al 6 marzo, giorno della loro morte, nello stesso giorno sono ricordati anche nel Martirologio Romano e in quello siriaco di Rabban Sliba.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/44090
The Holy 42 Martyrs of
Amorium : https://www.stmarksoca.org/files/texts/RLE_0306-42MartyrsAmorium.pdf
The Holy 42 Martyrs of
Amorium as Models for our Lives : https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2014/03/the-holy-42-martyrs-of-amorium-as.html
