FEBRONIA OF NISIBIS - Augustine Sokolovski

On July 8, the Church honors the memory of the holy martyr Febronia of Nisibis. The saint is the heavenly patroness of Saint Febronia of Murom (+1228), who, together with her husband Peter, is especially revered in the Russian Orthodox Church as the holy protector of family, marriage and marital fidelity. More and more young women are given the name Febronia at birth and baptism, which was completely unknown in the past twentieth century.

This name is associated with the name of the month of February and is associated with the concept of "purification". Like Julius, Augustus, Januarius or Martin, whose names originated from Roman sacred concepts and became the names of months, theoretically Febronia could be both a personal name and a nickname. This is especially noticeable in the case of Saint Febronia. After all, in her person we honor a martyr and a virgin who suffered not only for her confession of her Christian faith, but also for her firm desire to remain a virgin forever in the name of faith in Jesus Christ.

According to the Passion, Febronia lived in a women's community. Monasticism as an institution did not yet exist in Christianity, but the virgins dedicated themselves to God, that is, they acted not out of their own preferences, but out of purely biblical and religious considerations. As persecution approached, the virgins fled, but Febronia chose not to hide, remained in the monastery and was captured. She suffered greatly and was eventually beheaded.

The city of Nisibis is modern-day Nusaybin in Turkey. It is located in the southeast of the country, near the border with Syria. The legend of the Holy Image of Christ the Savior and the celebration of its transfer from Edessa to Constantinople were immortalized in these Mesopotamian territories.

After the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus (431) and the Fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon (451), Eastern Christianity split into the Orthodox, Nestorian and Monophysite churches. Thus, Nisibis became the sacred capital of the Syrian Nestorians, and Edessa became the citadel of the Monophysites. On the map, Edessa and Nisibis are located to the left and right of each other at a distance of about two hundred kilometers.

In the first centuries of Christianity, these cities were border points of the Roman Empire. For Christians, they served as starting points for the evangelization of distant lands, especially Persia. Over time, local missionaries reached China, and, according to some researchers, founded church centers and dioceses in Central Asia and even Tibet. But with the spread of Islam and its demographic superiority due to the polygamy legitimized in this religion, the Christian presence in these ancient strongholds of evangelization gradually disappeared.

Today, Edessa is called Urfa or Şanliurfa. Note the frequent inscription "Urfa-kebab." This is a meat recipe originating from the city where the Holy Image was revealed. This mixture of sacred and secular memories surrounds us everywhere. As the great Russian saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724-1783) taught, it is "a spiritual treasure gathered from the world." It is also a warning. Forgetting spiritual things leads to conceptual orphanhood and the loss of the true foundations of all things.

But let's return to Saint Febronia. She lived at the turn of the 3rd and 4th centuries. The Virgin was brutally murdered by pagans. According to legend, her life was recorded by one of the direct witnesses of her suffering and transmitted to the Church by the great Bishop James of Nisibis (+360). A contemporary of Saint Nicholas, a participant in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, a great prophet and wonderworker of the Syrian and Persian Churches, he was also the spiritual father of Saint Ephraim the Syrian.

Ancient liturgical calendars associate the memory of Saint Febronia with the day of her martyrdom. Her relics were a source of healing. But in 363, they were transferred to Constantinople. Why this transfer?

Human history is rich in events and upheavals. But it was in 363 that Emperor Julian the Apostate found himself very close to Febronia's tomb. He was waging a war against Persia that he had himself unleashed. His ultimate goal was victory over the Persians and a new title as King of Parthia, which would give him legitimacy in his policy of destroying Christianity. But on June 26, the day after the celebration in honor of Febronia, Julian was killed in battle during an unexpected but desperate retreat. Recall that the historical feast of Febronia fell on June 25. Nowadays, in the Orthodox Churches that are faithful to the ancient Julian calendar, this day falls on July 8. According to the peace treaty between Rome and Persia, Nisibis was to fall into Persian hands. The celebration of Febronia's memory then became the harbinger of the apostate's defeat. Her relics were transferred to Constantinople, a prophetic sign of the imminent evacuation of the Christian city. Evacuation, peace, concessions - what modern concepts. Truly, there is an incredible amount of archaism in modern times, as our contemporary philosopher Giorgio Agamben writes.

Three centuries later, the daughter of Emperor Heraclius (610-641) was named in honor of Febronia. It is believed that it was he who revived and spread the veneration of the saint far beyond Constantinople. It was Heraclius who won the new war and even finally defeated Persia and in 629 triumphantly entered Constantinople through the Golden Gate. However, during a long mutual war, the Roman and Persian empires bled each other dry, so much so that the newly emerging spread of Islam simply failed to meet the necessary resistance. The Persian Empire was quickly annihilated by the Arabs, who then laid siege to Constantinople. What a tremendous astonishing intertwining of the fates of empires and rulers, in life and death, and in the subsequent veneration of the defenseless virgin and martyr of Mesopotamia.