Day: October 19, 2023

Saint of the Day – 19 October – Saint Varus and Six Companions (Died c307) Martyrs, Soldier. Died in c307 by being tortured and then hanged from a tree on 19 October 307 in Kemet, Upper Egypt. Also known as – Uaros.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “In Egypt, St Varus, Solder under the Emperor Maximinus. He used to visit and comfort seven saintly Monks, detained in prison, when one of them happening to die, he wished to take his place and having suffered cruel afflictions, with them, he obtained the Palm of Martyrdom.”

At the time of Emperor Maximian Valerius (c250-c310), the soldier Varus took an interest in the fate of six Hermit Monkss in Egypt, who had been imprisoned due to the ongoing persecution of Christians.

It seems that initially, there were seven Hermits but one of them died upon arrest, or according to other sources, he died during harsh imprisonment.
It is known, however, that Varus, who went to comfort them, declared himself a Christian and expressed the desire to replace the seventh deceased hermit. For this reason, he was immediately condemned to be flagellated and then torn to pieces with hooks, it was around 307.

The next day, it was the turn of the six Hermits, whose names are unknown. After having refused to make sacrifices to the gods, they were subjected to various torments, in particular, to a long and bloody flagellation which caused their death. Another source says that after the flagellation, they were led outside the City to be beheaded.

The cult of Saint Varus and the six Hermits remained unknown in the West and their names were absent in the various medieval Martyrologies. However, they were inserted on 19 October in the Roman Martyrology, compiled in the 16th Century.

The body of the Soldier Varus, was collected by a pious woman named Cleopatra, also a Saint, who buried him in a safe place at her home. Once the persecution passed, she left for her home country of Palestine, secretly taking the Relics of the Martyr with her, for which she had a Church built at Mount Thabor. In that same place, Cleopatra had her son, buried, who had died shortly after arriving in Palestine and arranged to be buried there herself.