The Holy Martyr Hermias.

Commemorated May 31 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion

From the Prologue

He was a soldier in the imperial army till old age, when he suffered for another Emperor: Christ. The wicked judge tried in vain to make him renounce the Christian faith and offer sacrifice to idols, then he ordered that Hermias's teeth be broken with a stone and the skin stripped from his face with a knife. After that, he was thrown into a flaming furnace, but he remained unharmed, protected by the grace of God. He was then made to drink the strongest poison, which was given to him y a magician on the judge's orders, but the poison did him no harm at all. When the magician saw this, he was so amazed that he confessed Christ himself, and was immediately slain with the sword. They then poked out both of Hermias's eyes, and he said mildly to the judge: 'Take the eyes of flesh which used to gaze upon the vanity of the world; I have other eyes in my heart with which I clearly see the true light.' He was then hung upside down by the feet, and those who were torturing him became blind and staggered around him. St Hermias called them to himself, laid his hands upon them and restored their sight by his prayers. Seeing all this, the judge became as furious as a lion and, drawing out his sword, cut off the head of the man of God. Christians came and took Hermias's body in secret, and gave it burial. His relics gave healing to all the sick and wretched. St Hermias suffered in the reign of the Emperor Antoninus, in the year 160.

From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK