Our Patron Saint - Saint Demetrios
Veneration of Martyrs and Saints
The saints of the church, who are alive in Christ, are not only models whose lives and devotion to God we should strive to emulate, but also are intercessors to God. Individual faithful and parish communities are called upon to take a patron saint, in the tradition of the Holy Orthodox Church. Early churches were built at the site of the graves of many of the Holy Martyrs. These communities were dedicated with the name of the martyr, and he or she was called upon by the community who worshiped there to act as an intercessor and protector for the faithful. Churches today place relics of the saints inside the Altar table as well as in places for veneration in the church in remembrance of these holy men and women in our lives.
The Great Martyr Demetrios the Myrrh Gusher
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Towards the end of the 3rd century, Emperor Diocletian established the Tetrarchy, where the Roman Empire was divided into four administrative reign. In the year 303 AD, the four emperors issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights and demanding that they comply with traditional religious practices of sacrificing to the gods as pledge of their allegiance to the unity of the empire, deeming subversive and anarchist anyone who refused to do so. This became known as the Diocletian persecution, the most severe and last in the Roman empire.
It was during this time that a youg man named Demetrios was imprisoned for fearlessly bearing witness to Christ. Living out by the evangelical counsel of the Apostle Paul: He, “counted everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus [his] Lord. For His Sake [he] suffered the loss of all things and count[ed] them as rubbish, in order that [he]may gain Christ and be found in Him…..that [he] may know him and the power of His Resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death in order to attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Even while imprisoned he encouraged and interceded in prayer for his friend Nestor to confront and come out victorious over a famed and up to then invincible gladiator, Lyaous. In retribution Nestor was immediately executed and Demetrios martyred in prison by being pierced with a lance.
The cult to Saint Demetrios is evidenced by the early 4th century AD when the first church on the spot of his martyrdom was constructed , replacing a Roman bath. A century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced the small oratory with a larger, three-aisled basilica. Becoming a place of pilgrimage and because of the beautiful scent that emanated from his tomb, he was named Μυροβλύτης or "The Myrrh Gusher".
The compiler of his Life, St Simeon Metaphrastes says that because of his teaching zeal he became “a second Apostle Paul” for Thessalonica, particularly since “the Apostle to the Gentiles” once founded at this city the first community of believers (1 Thess. and 2 Thess.).
The earliest written accounts of his life were compiled by St. Simeon in the 9th century. Even before this narration there are earlier images of the martyr, as well as the 7th-century Miracles of Saint Demetrius collection which give evidence to the early cult of the Saint.
The Miracles comprise two books. The first was compiled between c. 610 and c. 620 by John, Archbishop of Thessalonica, and the second was compiled in the 680s. The first book enumerates fifteen episodes of Saint Demetrius's intervention on behalf of Thessalonica, most of which occurred in the episcopate of John's predecessor, Eusebius, including outbreaks of plague and the siege of the city. These episodes were written in the form of homilies or sermons, to be publicly read to the city's populace in order to demonstrate the Saint's active presence and intercession on their behalf.
St. Demetrios has remained the Patron and most beloved Saint of Thessalonica As St. Gregory Palamas (a fellow Thessalonian) in the 14th century wrote about the Great Martyr, may we be "deemed worthy of his intercessions to God, and of the eternal celebrations of the citizens of heaven."
"And therefore this divine Demetrios became spoken of as a wonder for the whole world, the fragrance of Christ, according to St. Paul, for those who are being saved and for those who are redeemed, for the smell of death is death, but that of life is life. This incomparable fragrance I do not have words to speak of, of the myrrh and wonders granted by God from the body of the Great Martyr..." -Excerpt from the Homily on St. Demetrios by St. Gregory Palamas
Apolytikion in the Third Tone
The world has found in you a great champion in time of peril, as you emerged the victor in routing the barbarians. For as you brought to naught the boasts of Lyaios, imparting courage to Nestor in the stadium, in like manner, holy one, great Martyr Demetrios, invoke Christ God for us, that He may grant us His great mercy.
Kontakion in the Second Tone
God, who gave you invincible power and with care kept your city invulnerable, royally clothed the Church in purple with the streams of your blood, for you are her strength, O Demetrios.
Sources
The Life of Saint Demetrios from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website: https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=364
