Memorial Day of the Holy Martyr Boniface (01/01)

The holy martyr Boniface suffered for Christ in 290, during the reign of the Roman emperors Diocletian and Maximian (284—305).

He was a slave of the noble Roman Aglaida. She entrusted him with the management of her house and extensive estates. Bonifatius was with Aglaid in lawless cohabitation (« in uncleanness lying around and a piyanitsa byashe»). At the same time, he was merciful to the poor and willingly accepted wanderers. Conscious of himself as a slave to sin, Boniface prayed to God that he would deliver him from the nets of the devil and make him a winner over his lusts and passions. The Lord heard His servant, but arranged him so that he could wash sinful deeds with blood and crown his soul with a martyr's crown.

At that time, there was a strong persecution of Christians in the East. Aglaida wished to have the relics of the holy martyrs in her house, hoping to receive salvation under their protection. She sent Boniface to the East with several servants so that he would buy the holy relics from the wicked tormentors.

Leaving, he asked Aglaid: «And if my body is brought to you, for Christ tortured, will you accept it with honor?». Aglaida reproached him for mockery and noticed that he needed to keep meekness and abstinence in order to receive the relics of the saints with dignity. Boniface remembered the words of his mistress and, reflecting on his life along the way, regretted the sins he had previously committed. All the time they reached Asia Minor, Boniface fasted and diligently prayed to God.

In the Cilician city of Tarsus (Asia Minor), Boniface left his companions in a hotel, and he hurried to the city square, where, at the confluence of many people, Christian martyrs were subjected to severe torture. The faces of the martyrs shone with spiritual joy, for the grace of God strengthened them in feat. Struck by the courage of the saints, Boniface was filled with Divine jealousy and publicly declared himself a Christian. He rushed to the martyrs, began to reverently hug their legs and pray to the Lord for the gift of a martyr’s crown for him. The judge interrogated Saint Boniface and, when he received a strong refusal from him to sacrifice to idols, he betrayed him for torment.

Saint Boniface was hung upside down and began to be beaten violently until the bones appeared, then needles were stuck under his nails. Seeing his resilience, molten tin was poured into his throat. However, the Lord, through the prayer of the martyr, mysteriously kept him unharmed. The people glorified the Lord Jesus Christ for the patience of the sufferer and rushed to the pagan temple to destroy the idols. The judge escaped death and could continue the torment only the next day, when the popular unrest subsided somewhat. The holy martyr was thrown into boiling resin, but he again remained unharmed. Suddenly the Angel came down and watered the martyr with Heavenly coolness, the resin spilled, flared up and burned the wicked tormentors themselves. Then the judge ordered the head of St. Boniface to be cut off.

Before his execution, the holy martyr prayed to the Lord for forgiveness of sins committed in madness, and for the deliverance of the flock of Christ from all wickedness and pagan error. Blood and milk flowed from the wound of the holy martyr.550 pagans were surprised by this miracle and believed in Christ.

Boniface's companions bought the saint's body for 500 gold coins and delivered it with honors to Aglaida, whom the Angel had already warned about what had happened. Aglaida greeted the body of the holy martyr with reverence. On her estate, 50 stages from Rome, she built a temple where she laid the relics of a martyr. They became famous for many miracles; through the prayers of the martyr Boniface, the sick and suffering from unclean spirits were healed.

Aglaida distributed all her property to the poor and spent 15 years in repentance in the monastery. During her lifetime, she received the gift of exorcising demons. Upon her death she was buried next to the martyr Boniface. The feat of the holy martyr Boniface teaches us, as a «-raised natural possessor, to become worthy of the suffering that the Lord has endured for us through true repentance and a good change. Through the prayers of St. Boniface, believers find healing from illnesses, deliverance from sinful passions — of drunkenness and debauchery.

425