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| St. Onesimos the Wonderworker (Feast Day - July 14) |
Verses
With Your Onesimos I come to You O Word,
That the burden I lift may be light and pleasant.
That the burden I lift may be light and pleasant.
This Saint Onesimos was different from the Apostle Onesimos the disciple of the Apostle Paul, and different from the Martyr Onesimos. He lived during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284–305), and was from Caesarea of Palestine, from a village known as Karyini. It is said that his parents received Holy Baptism by a divine Angel, were given the good news that they would give birth to this Saint, and that they were to name their son Onesimos. When he was still young the Venerable one left his parents and went to a monastery in Ephesus, where there were eight hundred monks. His parents wept and lamented because he left, and from their many tears they were blinded.
Due to the persecution of Diocletian, the monks left behind that monastery, and for this reason the Saint left and went to the house of his parents. However, he did not meet with them, but he quickly wrote on a piece of paper about himself, and he placed it on the window of the house. He then went to Magnesia, found a monastery, and brought his parents there, where he healed their eyes. Wherefore he passed the remainder of his life in a God-pleasing manner, and departed to the Lord.
