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| St. Varypsavas (or Barypsabas) (Feast Day - September 10) |
Verses
Barypsabas for the Master’s divine blood,
Pours out his own blood, being beaten with wooden clubs.
Saint Barypsabas (or Varypsavas) from Dalmatia received the honorable blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which ran from His side from a certain hermit, and through it worked many healings. For this reason one night he was beaten to death with clubs by unbelievers, who supposed the healings by the blood could be sold for a price. Barypsabas, however, kept the blood well concealed for them to not lay their hands on it. From then on the honorable treasure of the Master's blood was kept by the disciple of the Saint.
Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite explains that this blood in the possession of Barypsabas was not the blood that came directly from the side of Christ when He was crucified, since, according to the opinion of Gregory the Theologian, this blood rose together with Christ. Rather, it was most likely the blood that poured out from the icon of the Master Christ that was in Beirut when certain Jews stabbed the side of Christ depicted. This blood, which was brought to Constantinople, was considered by Christians to have been the blood of Christ, and worked many miracles.