Holy Martyr Sozon 20/09/2010
He was born in Lycaonia. He was a shepherd, and obeyed the Lord's Commandments in everything and instructed his contemporaries and friends in devoutness. According to a certain vision of his he learned that he was to die a death of a martyr for Christ. At the time there was a great persecution of the Christians in the nearby town Pompeiopolis by certain Maximian, the Governor of Cilicia. And in the town there was a golden idol, which the pagans worshipped. Sozon left his sheep, went into the town, entered the pagan shrine, broke off the hand of the golden idol, broke it into pieces and distributed them to the poor. Because of this a great tumult started in the town and the pagans began to search for the one to be blamed. In order to prevent somebody else to suffer for his deed, Sozon headed towards the Governor and declared himself as a Christian and the executor of the deed. The torturers beat him at first, and then hanged him on a tree and scraped him with iron brushes, and when he came to the point of dying they put him on fire, where Saint Sozon gave up his soul to God. He suffered about the year 304. His holy relics worked miracles and a church dedicated to the Saint was erected over them.
