Information Service of TRUTH ABOUT SAINT PROCOPIUS Due to the reactions of citizens to the text of BETA News Agency published in daily VECERNJE NOVOSTI (EVENING NEWS), the Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church publishes the truth on Saint Procopius, based on the hagiography of this Lord-pleasing Saint. The text in VECERNJE NOVOSTI read that Saint Procopius was a beekeeper. Saint Procopius (Neanias) was a soldier who used to persecute Christians up to the miraculous transformation after seeing the Lord Jesus Christ who asked him who he was persecuting and against whom he was rebelling. Then Neanias, as he was named before baptism, saw a brilliant Cross in the sky, glowing with colours that human eye had not seen up to that moment, and a voice came from the Cross: "I am Jesus, the crucified Son of God. By this sign that you have seen, overcome your enemies, and My peace will be with you!" This event utterly changed Neanias' life and out of fierce persecutor of Christians, he became their defender. The text in VECERNJE NOVOSTI read the following on the death of Saint Procopius: “When one night a bear has destroyed his bee-hives, Procopius was so sad that he committed suicide, when the Lord took him to be a saint”. Saint Procopius confessed his faith into Jesus Christ publicly, wherefore he was thrown into dungeon and brutally tortured. One night Christ Himself appeared in the dungeon, baptised him and named him Procopius. At that time 12 girls from the noblest houses were brought to prison for being Christians. Procopius encouraged them and told them about the bliss of the Kingdom of God. When Procopius’ mother saw the tortures her son was enduring, and when she saw the noble girls, she also accepted Christ’s religion and joined them in the dungeon. Saint Procopius learned the girls and his mother how to receive the garland of martyrdom, since every love requires victims. Therefore Saint Procopius is mentioned in the rite of wedding. When Saint Procopius was taken to execution site, he raised his arms towards East and prayed to God for all the poor and needy, the destitute and the widowed, and especially for the holy Church, that it might grow and spread and that Orthodoxy might shine to the end of time. He was assured from heaven that his prayer was heard, after which he joyfully laid his head under the sword and went to his Lord, to eternal joy. That happened in Palestinian Caesarea, on July 8th, 303. That was a short story about the life and death of Saint Procopius, and if this is compared to the text published in VECERNJE NOVOSTI, it becomes obvious that not only this Saint of the Lord but also 95% of the population of Serbia who declared Orthodox confession in the latest census were offended by such a text. |
