Commentary: The Holy Virgin Martyr Tatiana was born into an illustrious Roman family, and her father was elected consul three times. He was a good Christian, but secretly. He raised his daughter, Saint Tatiana, to be devoted to God and instructed her in the Scriptures. When she reached the age of maturity, Tatiana decided to remain a virgin, betrothing herself to Christ, touched by His love. She served Him day and night in fasting and prayer, putting her flesh to death and subjecting it to the Spirit. In view of her fervent zeal and love of God, she was appointed a deaconess. Deaconesses were young virgins appointed by bishops to care for the poor and the sick, to assist at Baptism and to serve in the temple. The words of Christ were rooted deeply in her heart: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Her love of God and neighbours indeed made Tatiana worthy to receive a glorious martyr’s crown. Her martyrdom for the sake of Christ happened as follows:

220 years after the birth of Christ, the wicked Roman emperor Elagabalus Antonius was murdered by his own Praetorian Guard. His body was dragged through the streets of Rome and thrown into the Tiber. After him, Rome was ruled by the sixteen-year-old Alexander Severus. His mother was a Christian, her name was Mamaea. She raised him to be devoted to Christ. However, Alexander did not worship Christ with a sincere heart because he did not cast away the idols but worshipped them as ancient Roman gods. In his palaces, he had the image of Christ and Abraham of the Old Testament but also the image of the pagan god Apollo, the Hellenistic god Orpheus and other idols. Alexander himself did not persecute Christians, as he had been raised by a Christian mother, but his regents, governors and rulers did much evil to the believers. Owing to Alexander’s young age, all power was concentrated in the hands of members of the senate, the first among whom was Ulpian, praetorian prefect. He was a ruthless enemy of Christians. So these men ruled the empire and issued orders on behalf of the emperor which forced “Galileans” – that’s how they called Christians – to worship the Roman deities under threat of torture and death. The most cruel diabolical servants were chosen to murder Christians in Rome and in all corners of the Roman Empire. Christian blood flowed like water. At that time, the wicked also arrested the holy virgin Tatiana, deaconess of the Church of Rome.

Servant 1: Your Majesty, behold, this is the girl about whom we told you that she mocks our gods!

Servant 2: They say that she strives with ardent zeal to serve Christ and to observe His commandments. And she also wins others for Christ by her way of life. She speaks about something like repentance and says that there is no other God but one.

Ulpian: Carry her immediately to the temple of Apollo to offer sacrifice!

Commentary: So they brought the holy virgin into the heathen temple. She raised her eyes to heaven and prayed to her Heavenly Bridegroom:

Tatiana: O Jesus, my Saviour, You died on the cross for my sins. Please, glorify Your Holy Name and show that You are the Only True God. Smash this idol into pieces and cast out the demon dwelling therein.

Commentary: Suddenly there was an earthquake. The idol was smashed into pieces, and part of the temple collapsed and fell down on the pagan priests and many pagans. The demon inhabiting the idol fled screeching from that place. Those present saw its dark shadow flying through the air. The servants brought word to Ulpian. Filled with anger, he shouted:

Ulpian: How dares she?! Bring her back instantly and beat her in the face without mercy! Tear her eyes out with hooks! That will teach her a lesson!

Commentary: The torturers beat her for so long that they became exhausted: because the saint was as hard as iron. They themselves felt greater pain than the virgin martyr because the saint was encircled by invisible angels who beat her tormentors.

Servants: Ulpian, please order us to stop beating this innocent girl! The blows we deal to her turn upon us!

Commentary: In these terrible torments, she prayed to God for her tormentors.

Tatiana: O Jesus, Son of God, forgive me, Your sinful slave, and forgive them too! Grant to them the knowledge of truth, that Your heavenly light may open their spiritual eyes.

Commentary: And the Lord heard her prayer. Her tormentors saw four angels encircle the saint. A voice was heard from the heavens speaking to the holy virgin. And the men fell on their knees before her.

Executioners: Please, forgive us, servant of the true God! Forgive us all harm we have done to you under compulsion!

Commentary: And the executioners believed in Christ. There were eight of them. For confessing themselves Christians they were cruelly tortured and beheaded, receiving Baptism by blood.

The next day the holy virgin Tatiana was brought before the wicked judge again. He was astonished to see her completely healed of all the wounds, with a radiant and cheerful face.

Ulpian: Tatiana, you are shining like the sun; I implore you, do worship my gods! I will make you rich in gold and give you whatever you ask. If not, I will expose you to public disgrace and order your body to be slashed with razors.

Tatiana: I count as rubbish all things by which you seduce me, and I will not worship your gods!

Ulpian: Stretch her out on the ground and beat her with rods for such a reply!

Commentary: And so the torturers were beating Saint Tatiana with iron rods. When they were slashing her body with razors, milk was flowing from her wounds and a wondrous fragrance, as of fragrant oil, filled the air. The saint, lifting up her eyes to Christ, her Bridegroom, prayed in torment:

Tatiana: I praise You, O Lord, for You have looked on my humble state and have not left me in the hands of the enemy, but You have made me worthy to suffer for Your name’s sake. This day again, please, O Lord, let Your hand hide me and Your grace descend upon me! Glorify Your Holy Name and lead me into the heavenly home. Have mercy, O Lord, on my soul, and receive it purified by repentance and suffering, for You are blessed forever and ever.

Commentary: Stretched out on the ground, she was beaten for so long that the servants had to be replaced several times. The torturers became exhausted and said that an invisible power was beating them with iron rods. Indeed, the angels warded off the blows directed at her and turned them upon the tormentors, causing nine of them to fall dead. The saint ridiculed their gods.

When the day inclined towards dark, she was thrown into prison, where she prayed all night and sang praises to the Lord with the angels.

Tatiana: I am so fatigued, but revive me according to Your word, O Lord, and I will speak of Your testimonies before kings, and will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.

Commentary: A new morning began, and they took Tatiana to the tribunal once more. The torturers beheld with astonishment that after such terrible torments she appeared completely healthy and even more radiant and beautiful than before.

Ulpian: Offer sacrifice to our gods and you shall live. You will be rich and honoured… We only want you to be happy, so do obey us! Just drop a little grain of incense before our goddess Diana. She will reward everyone who worships her. You will be as a goddess.

Tatiana: Oh, I didn’t know it! I like your words. Please, take me to the temple, that I may give due honour to the goddess Diana!

Commentary: The saint seemed agreeable to the proposal, and they took her to the heathen temple. When the demon inhabiting the idol of Diana heard about Tatiana approaching the temple, he screeched in a loud voice:

Demon: Woe, woe to me! Where shall I go to escape Your Spirit, O God of heaven, for a fire goes after me from the four corners of the temple!

Commentary: When Saint Tatiana approached the temple, she made the Sign of the Cross and began to pray, raising her eyes to heaven:

Tatiana: O Lord Jesus, glorify Your Holy Name! Send down Your fire from heaven just as You sent it on Mount Carmel, where the prophet Elijah was full of jealous zeal for You! Burn the idols in this place too!

Commentary: Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning and a crash of deafening thunder. Fire came down from heaven and burnt the temple, the idol, the sacrificial offerings and the pagan priests to ashes. Many people also were struck by lightning and fell dead.

Ulpian: Let this sorceress be hung up and scraped with iron claws!

Commentary: Once again, the holy virgin Tatiana was fiercely tortured and her body was torn with hooks. Thereafter she was thrown into prison. That night, angels appeared to her in prison, relieved her suffering and healed her wounds as before. On the following day, they took Saint Tatiana to the circus and loosed a hungry lion on her. The beast did not harm the saint, but meekly cuddled up against her and licked her feet. As they were taking the lion back to its cage, it pounced on one of the emperor’s honourable counsellors named Eumenius and killed him.

Ulpian: Now I have lost my faithful counsellor Eumenius! Hang her up and tear her body without remorse and then throw her into a fire!

Commentary: The torturers were struck again by invisible angels and died. The fire did not harm the martyr. It held back its flames, giving honour to the slave of Christ. The pagans did not attribute all those glorious miracles to the power of Christ but they thought that Tatiana was a sorceress, and so they resolved to cut her hair to take away her magical powers.

Servant 2: She has magical power in her hair and that is why nothing can harm her. Let her hair be cut!

Ulpian: Indeed, your advice is good. Cut her hair and lock her up in the temple of Zeus! By cutting her hair we will take away her magical powers and she will have no more power to harm our gods!

Commentary: The saint was kept in this strange prison for two days, surrounded with the radiance of heaven and comforted by angels. On the third day, pagan priests came to the temple intending to offer sacrifice to Zeus. They beheld the idol on the floor, shattered to pieces, and the holy martyr Tatiana joyously praising the Lord Jesus Christ. They brought her before the judge again and did not know what more they could do to punish her.

Ulpian: I am helpless! What more can I do to punish her? I am afraid to do anything, for many people, seeing the miracles, have believed in Christ and turned from our gods. Let her be beheaded then!

Commentary: Saint Tatiana was beheaded with a sword. Her father was also executed with her, because he had raised her to love Christ. First he was degraded from all honours and deprived of all property, and finally he was condemned to death. He likewise was beheaded with a sword for the sake of Christ in 225 A.D. Both of them received a martyr’s crown from Christ their God, to Whom be glory forever. Amen.

Download: Martyrdom of the Holy Virgin Tatiana of Rome, and those who suffered with her