Saint Varus (
Greek: Οὔαρος; died ) was an early Christian
saint
In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
, soldier and
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...
.
Biography
According to his generally reliable and authentic Acts, he was a soldier stationed in
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...
who had the task of guarding a group of 7
monks awaiting execution. It is stated that Varus was already a Christian at this point, but had weak faith. After witnessing one of the monks perish, the faith of Varus became reinvigorated, and he joined the monks. For this, Varus was tortured, and had his body
hung from a tree.
Veneration
During the
Time of Troubles
The Time of Troubles (), also known as Smuta (), was a period of political crisis in Tsardom of Russia, Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I, the last of the Rurikids, House of Rurik, and ended in 1613 wit ...
, many children of
Russian Orthodox
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
families were dying before they could be baptized. This led
Patriarch Hermogenes of Moscow to declare that the
Canon of Saint Varus should be sung in churches on behalf of dead, unbaptized children. This makes Varus a popular saint in
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, as he is remembered as an intercessor on behalf of the suffering Russian people.
See also
*
Saint Cleopatra — witnessed the suffering and execution of Saint Varus.
*
Lectionary 211
*
October 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
External links and references
The Life of Holy Martyr Varus. Reprinted From Orthodox Life Vol. 44, No5 - October 1994Catholic saints: St. VarusVarys the Martyr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varus
4th-century Christian saints
Saints from Roman Egypt
4th-century Christian martyrs