ON ST. EULOGIUS, MARTYR IN PALESTINE.
CommentaryEulogius, Martyr in Palestine (St.)
The very ancient Greek Synaxarion, which exists in Paris as a manuscript in the Jesuit College of Clermont, celebrates this Saint with these words: Τῇ ἀυτῇ ἡμερᾳ ἄθλησις τοῦ ἁγίου Μάρτυρος Ἔυλογίου τοῦ ἐν Παλαιςίνῃ. On the same day the struggle of St. Eulogius the Martyr in Palestine. What is in the printed Menaea and in Maximus of Cythera is expressed thus: St. Eulogius inscribed in various menaea: Καὶ μνήμη τοῦ ἁγίου Μάρτυρος Εὐλογίου τοῦ ἐν Παλαιςίνῃ. And the memorial of the holy Martyr Eulogius who suffered in Palestine. And these verses are added:
Τὸν Εὐλόγιον ἐυλόγει πᾶσα κτίσις Κτίςου χάριν σου τὴν καραν τεμνόμενον.
Let all creation bless Eulogius, Who for thy Creator's sake was beheaded.
The veneration of the same is proposed in the manuscript Menaea of the Mazarin Library. The encomium of the renowned deeds of St. Eulogius exists in the manuscript Martyrology composed at the command of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus, which is of this kind:
[2] Eulogius, Martyr of Christ, was a native of the region of Palestine, the son of wealthy parents who were, however, devoted to the worship of the gods; yet he embraced the faith of Christ and was regenerated by baptism. When his parents died, he distributed among the poor the very great riches they had left him, distributes riches to the poor: and willingly begging for his sustenance for Christ's sake, he went about through every city and region, teaching the infidels the word of Christ and converting many of them, and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. While he was doing this, converts many: he was betrayed by idol-worshippers to the Prince of the region, and was bound in chains and presented to him. When questioned, he confessed Christ with confidence and freedom. grievously beaten: Wherefore, stripped of his garments and cruelly beaten with dried ox sinews, he was tortured so that, driven by these torments, he might be compelled to deny Christ and offer sacrifices to idols. But since he refused to comply, by the Prince's command his sacred head was cut off, beheaded, and then buried with his body in the same place.