Saint Charalampos ( grc, Ἅγιος Χαράλαμπος) (also variously Charalampas, Charalampus, Charalambos, Haralampus, Haralampos, Haralabos or Haralambos) was an early Christian

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

Magnesia on the Maeander Magnesia or Magnesia on the Maeander ( grc, Μαγνησία ἡ πρὸς Μαιάνδρῳ or ; la, Magnesia ad Maeandrum) was an ancient Greek city in Ionia, considerable in size, at an important location commercially and strategically in th ...

, a city in

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, in the

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

of the same name. His name means ''glowing with joy'' in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. He lived during the reign of

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...

(193–211), when Lucian was

Proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ...

of Magnesia. According to one source, at the time of his martyrdom in 202, Charalambos was 113 years old.

Life and martyrdom

Charalambos was Bishop of Magnesia also known as the Assyrian Saint Mar

Zayya Saint Zayya (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܙܝܥܐ), was a travelling mystic, holy man and healer who made his way from Palestine to the mountains of northern Mesopotamia and Assyria spreading Christianity with his disciple St. Tawor. The Church of the East ho ...

"Three Women Martyrs with St. Charalmpus in Thessaly", Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
/ref> and spread the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

in that region for many years. However, when news of his preaching reached the authorities of the area, the proconsul Lucian and military commander Lucius, the saint was arrested and brought to trial, where he confessed his faith in Christ and refused to offer sacrifice to

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

s. Despite his advanced age, he was tortured mercilessly. They lacerated his body with iron hooks, and scraped all the skin from his body. The saint had only one thing to say to his tormentors: "Thank you, my brethren, for scraping off the old body and renewing my soul for new and eternal life." According to the saint's hagiography, upon witnessing Charalambos' endurance of these tortures, two soldiers, Porphyrius and Baptus, openly confessed their faith in Christ, for which they were immediately

beheaded Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the ...

with a sword. Three women who were watching the sufferings of Charalambos also began to glorify Christ, and were quickly martyred as well. The legend continues to say that Lucius, enraged, seized the instruments of torture and began to torture Charalambos himself, but suddenly his

forearm The forearm is the region of the upper limb between the elbow and the wrist. The term forearm is used in anatomy to distinguish it from the arm, a word which is most often used to describe the entire appendage of the upper limb, but which in ...

s were cut off as if by a sword. The governor Lucian then spat in the face of the saint, and immediately Lucian's head was turned around so that he faced backwards. Apparently, Lucian and Lucius both prayed for mercy, and were healed by the saint, and became Christians. More tortures, the legend says, were wrought upon the saint after he was brought to

himself. Condemned to death and led to the place of execution, Charalambos prayed that God grant that the place where his relics would repose would never suffer famine or disease. After praying this, the saint gave up his soul to God even before the

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

er had laid his sword to his neck. Tradition says that Severus' daughter Gallina"Septimius Severus had no children, so the chronology of this traditional telling of Charalambos' life is somewhat suspect": was so moved by his death, that she was converted and buried Charalambos herself.

Veneration

The

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

of Saint Charalambos is kept at the Monastery of Saint Stephen at

Meteora The Meteora (; el, Μετέωρα, ) is a rock formation in central Greece hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos.Sofianos, D.Z.: "Metéora" ...

. Many miracles are traditionally attributed to the fragments of his relics, which are to be found in many places in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and elsewhere. The miracles have made this saint, considered the most aged of all the martyrs, especially dear to the people of Greece. On some

Greek islands Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227. The largest Greek island by a ...

, bulls are sacrificed on his feast day. "This festival is the most important popular activity of the village of Agia Paraskevi and it combines a variety of happenings that regard the ritual of the bull' s sacrifice. n agricultural grouprevived this ancient custom in 1774. It was established as a reverence to St Haralambos, the protector of heagricultural group that organises hefestival". The feast day of Saint Charalambos is normally commemorated on

February 10 Events Pre-1600 * 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end. * 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, spar ...

,"St. Charalambos Saints Day Celebrations in Luton, UK", ''Parikiaki'', 20 February 2019
/ref> the exception being when this date falls on the Saturday of Souls preceding Great Lent or on

Clean Monday Clean Monday ( el, Καθαρά Δευτέρα), also known as Pure Monday, Ash Monday, Monday of Lent or Green Monday, is the first day of Great Lent throughout Eastern Christianity and is a moveable feast, falling on the 6th Monday befor ...

(the first day of Lent), in which case the feast is celebrated on 9 February. He is also revered in Comitán, Chiapas, México (in Spanish: ''San Caralampio'').

Iconography

In Greek hagiography and iconography, Charalambos is regarded as a priest, while

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n sources seem to regard him as a bishop.

Notes and references

External links

Feast of the Holy and Glorious Hieromartyr Haralambos
- Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Hieromartyr Charalampus, Bishop of Magnesia in Asia Minor
Orthodox

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

and synaxarion
St. Haralambos, The Right Reverend Father Michael D. Jordan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charalambos 202 deaths Saints from Roman Anatolia Longevity claims Miracle workers 3rd-century Christian martyrs Year of birth unknown 3rd-century bishops in Roman Anatolia 89 births