Holy Martyr Sava

The remains of the Christian Sava, who died on April 12, 372 in the territory of modern Romania, were transferred to Cappadocia. The ceremony of meeting the shrine was headed by Bishop Basil the Great of Caesarea. The initiator of the transfer was the Scythian military commander Junius Saran, who professes Christianity.

The execution took place during an anti-Christian campaign launched by the Gothic nobility under pressure from pagan priests. Soldiers under the command of military commander Afaridas on Easter days raided the settlement where Savva lived. Together with Presbyter Sapsal, he was captured and taken to the place of trial.

According to eyewitnesses, the prisoners were subjected to prolonged torture. The priest was carried on a wagon, and the 38-year-old Savva was forced to follow him barefoot and without clothes, pushing sticks and scourges with blows. The route ran through the thickets of thorns. In the morning, no wounds or abrasions were found on the prisoner’s body. Convoys were struck by a lack of bodily harm. New torture followed: the man was tied to wheel axles and beaten during daylight hours.

Savva’s conflict with his fellow tribesmen began long before his arrest. Earlier, when locals, out of fear of the authorities, tried to secretly replace idol meat with regular meat for their baptized relatives, he publicly exposed the practice. He was expelled from the village, but later returned. The turning point was a mass oath offering. When the village community decided to collectively abdicate before a judge the presence of Christians in the district, Savva shouted out from the crowd to avoid being vouched for. Then the people pointed to him as the only follower of the new faith. The judge, seeing a poorly dressed man who posed no political threat, released him.

Before his execution, Afarid offered an ultimatum: freedom in exchange for eating ritual treats from pagan altars. Presbyter Sapsal rejected the offer, saying he was ready to accept the crucifixion. When he heard that the Lord had sent the food, he said that he knew only the Lord. One of the servants threw a spear into the prisoner’s chest in anger. The weapon hit the target, but the convict compared the blow to touching soft coat.

The death sentence was carried out near the river Mussova. The escorts, who accompanied the convict to the place of drowning, discussed the possibility of secret release of the unarmed prisoner. Sava interrupted these conversations, reporting that he already saw angelic powers ready to receive his spirit. The body with a wooden beam tied to the neck was thrown into the water. Later it was removed and left without burial, but local believers hid the remains. They are now being transported to Asia Minor.