Armenian Church commemorates Patriarch St. Peter, Bishop St. Vlas and Deacon Abisolom

Today, the Armenian Church commemorates Patriarch St. Peter, Bishop St. Vlas and Deacon Abisolom.

Patriarch St. Peter of Alexandria and Deacon Abisolom are important saints of the Universal Church. At the beginning of the 4th century, as the Patriarch of Alexandria, St. Peter thanks to the strength of his faith and with the support of the Deacon Abisolom led and protected his flock during the period of reign of the kings Dioclethianus, Galerius and Maximianus, who persecuted the Christians. Because of the intensification of persecutions and the insistence of the local community, the Patriarch left for Palestine and Mesopotamia. However, becoming aware of Christians’ martyrdoms, he immediately returned to Alexandria, and soon he was imprisoned. By the wish of the saint and also fearing the people’s indignation, the soldiers don’t behead him publicly. Patriarch Peter and Deacon Abisolom were martyred in 311.

Bishop Vlas of Sebastia always gave the lead to the Christians and encouraged the martyrs. During the period of persecutions of the king Likianos, Bishop Vlas advised his flock to leave Sebastia and went to live in the monasteries on the Mountain Areos, where he lived an ascetic and prayerful life. However, authorities became aware of the place of the saint and brought him to the court, where, filled with the Lord’s Spirit, Bishop Vlas reproached the heathens. For his behavior he was subjected to torments, then he was thrown into the lake of Sebastia, and afterwards he was beheaded in 316.

The life, behavior, and martyrdom of the Patriarch St. Peter, Bishop St. Vlas and Deacon Abisolom have been a model for the entire Christian world, at the price of whose blood the Christian Church was founded.