Saint of the Day – 8 August – Saint Hormisdas of Persia

St Hormisdas of Persia (or Hormizd) was the son of a governor and a Persian martyr who died in the fifth century. At the time Christians were being persecuted by the Persian kings, and the tortures and method of murder inflicted upon them ws so cruel and horrible that according to sources from the period, it was difficult to even put it into words. Even worse than threat of pain, the Persian kings offered barbarism in one hand, and offers of power in the other. Despite this dual onslaught against weak human nature, the most terrible possible, many Christians stood fast to the Faith.

High status and power were taken from Hormisdas because of his strict allegiance to Christianity. From a nobleman, he was stripped of everything, including most of his clothes, and made to take care of the royal camels.

In answer to the king’s demand that he renounce Christ, Hormisdas refused, saying that such a denial would offend God, and that a man willing to violate the supreme law of the sovereign Lord of all could not be trusted to remain faithful even to his earthly king. He added that if treason against an earthly sovereign is punishable by death, “what must it be to renounce the God and ruler of the universe?”

After a long time suffering humiliation, the king pitied the saint, gave Hormisdas a tunic and offered him clemency if he would “renounce the Carpenter’s Son.” In response, Hormisdas stripped off the tunic, asking the emperor how he could have believed it would persuade him to abandon the law of God. He was executed in the year 420 by Bahram V.