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| Sts. Zenobius and Zenobia (Feast Day - October 30) |
Verses
Steadfast with you before the sword Zenobios,
Was the stout-hearted woman Zenobia.
Zenobios and his sister were beheaded on the thirtieth.
Zenobios and Zenobia were brother and sister from the town of Aegea in Cilicia. They inherited the true faith and great material wealth from their parents. At the death of their parents they worked zealously for the faith and with great love, distributing all their wealth to the poor. Because their hands were so generous, the hand of God shielded them from every evil intent of men and demons. The generous hands of Zenobios, which gave to the poor, were endowed by God with the gift of miracle-working, and Zenobios healed the sick of every kind of infirmity merely by touching them. Zenobios was appointed Bishop of Aegea because he showed great love to the people of God.
During the persecution of Emperor Diocletian in the year 290, the Prefect Lysias arrested Bishop Zenobios and said: "I offer you two choices: life or death; life if you worship the gods, or death if you do not." Bishop Zenobius replied: "Life without Christ is not life but death, whereas death for the sake of Christ is not death but life." When Bishop Zenobios was subjected to cruel tortures, such as hanging him from a trestle and dismembering his body, Zenobia came to the judge in anger and said: "I also want to drink from this cup of suffering, and be crowned with that wreath." After being tortured by being stretched out on an iron bed covered with burning coals and thrown in boiling pitch, to which they were insensible by being refreshed with the dew of heaven, both were beheaded with the sword outside the city. Thus this brother and sister took up their habitation in the Kingdom of the Immortal Christ the King.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
As brother and sister united in goodness you contested together, Zenobios and Zenobia. You received incorruptible crowns and unending glory, and shine forth with the grace of healing upon those in the world.
Kontakion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Let us sing praises to the brother and sister, witnesses of truth and preachers of piety who together received martyrs' crowns, Holy Zenobios and Zenobia.
