Saints Barses and Eulogius, Bishops of Edessa, and Protogenes, Bishop of Carrhae, Confessors — August 25 / September 7 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 25 according to the Julian Calendar (September 7 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Saints Barses and Eulogius, Bishops of Edessa, and Protogenes, Bishop of Carrhae, Confessors.

Saints Barses and Eulogius, Bishops of Edessa, and Protogenes, Bishop of Carrhae, confessors, lived in the second half of the fourth century. The Emperor Valens (364–378), who strove to spread the Arian heresy, began a cruel persecution of the Orthodox. In the city of Edessa he drove from his cathedra the hierarch Barses, a champion of the purity of the faith, and sent him to prison on the island of Aradus. The Orthodox population received the exiled hierarch with great honour. He was then transferred farther away, to the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, but there too he was received in the same manner. Then the hierarch was banished to the city of Phenon on the border of the empire, where, worn out by suffering, he gave his soul to the Lord (†378).

In Edessa the Emperor Valens unlawfully enthroned the Arian false bishop Lupus (whose name means “wolf”), who by his deeds justified his name. The Orthodox population of Edessa, both clergy and laity, ceased attending the churches seized by the heretics. They gathered outside the city and celebrated the divine services under the open sky.

When he learned of this, the emperor ordered the prefect Modestus to slay every Christian who appeared there. The prefect took pity on the people and warned the faithful in advance not to come to the service. They did the opposite: burning with the desire to suffer for Christ, they gathered to a man to offer prayer. The prefect Modestus, in accordance with the order, set out for the place with armed soldiers. On the way he saw a woman hurrying with her child toward the place of martyrdom to receive the martyr’s crown. Stunned by this, Modestus turned back with his soldiers. Appearing at the imperial court, he persuaded the emperor to change his order for the slaughter of all the Orthodox and to extend it only to the clergy.

The clergy, led by the elder priest Eulogius, were brought before the emperor. The godless ruler tried to induce them to enter into communion with the false bishop Lupus, but he could not persuade a single one of them. After this, eighty clergymen were sent in chains to prison in Thrace. Along the way the Orthodox received the holy confessors with great honour and supplied them with what they needed. The enraged emperor ordered that they be divided into pairs and scattered to various places.

The holy priests Eulogius and Protogenes were sent to the city of Antinoë in the Thebaid, where by their preaching they converted and baptized many idolaters. When the Emperor Valens perished, the pious Emperor Theodosius (379–395), who ascended the throne, recalled from exile the confessors who had survived the persecution.

In place of the departed holy bishop Barses, the priest Eulogius was consecrated hierarch of Edessa, and Saint Protogenes was ordained Bishop of Carrhae, a city of Mesopotamia. The saints wisely governed their flocks until they departed this world in peace at the close of the fourth century.