St Apollinaris was a disciple of the Apostle Peter, whom he
followed from Antioch to Rome sometime during the reign of the Roman
emperor Claudius (41-54). St Peter appointed Apollinaris as Bishop of
Ravenna. Arriving in Ravenna as a stranger, St Apollinaris asked shelter
of a local inhabitant, the soldier Irenaeus, and during their
conversation he revealed the purpose for which he had come.
Irenaeus
had a blind son, whom St Apollinaris healed, after he had prayed to the
Lord. The soldier Irenaeus and his family were the first people in
Ravenna to believe in Christ. The saint stayed at the house of Irenaeus
and preached about Christ to everyone who wished to hear his words. One
of the miracles that St Apollinaris performed was the healing of Thekla,
the incurably sick wife of the tribune. Through the prayers of the
saint, she got up from her bed completely healthy. Not only did she
believe in Christ, but so did her husband the tribune. In their house St
Apollinaris set up a small church, where he celebrated the Divine
Liturgy. St Apollinaris ordained two presbyters, Aderetus and Calocyrus,
and also two deacons for the newly-baptized people of Ravenna.
St
Apollinaris labored with great zeal, preaching the Gospel at Ravenna
for twelve years, and the number of Christians steadily increased. Pagan
priests complained about the bishop to the governor Saturninus. The
hierarch was brought to trial and subjected to grievous tortures.
Thinking that he had died, the torturers took him out of the city to the
seacoast and threw him into the water. The saint, however, was still
alive. A certain pious Christian widow helped him and gave him shelter
in her home. St Apollinaris stayed with her for six months, and secretly
continued to preach about Christ. The saint’s whereabouts became known
when he restored the power of speech to an illustrious resident of the
city named Boniface, whose wife had requested the saint to help her
husband.
After this miracle many pagans were converted to Christ,
and once again St Apollinaris was brought to trial and tortured. His
bare feet were placed on red-hot coals. They expelled him from the city a
second time, but the Lord again kept him alive. The saint did not cease
preaching until he left the city. For a certain time St Apollinaris
found himself elsewhere in Italy, where he continued to preach the
Gospel as before. Returning to his flock in Ravenna, St Apollinaris went
on trial yet again and was sentenced to banishment.
In heavy
fetters, he was placed on a ship bound for Illyrica and the Danube
River. Two soldiers were responsible for escorting him to his place of
exile. Three of the clergy voluntarily followed their bishop into exile.
Along the way the vessel was wrecked and everyone drowned, except for
St Apollinaris, his clergy and the two soldiers. The soldiers, listening
to St Apollinaris, believed in the Lord and were baptized. Not finding
any shelter, the travelers came to Moisia in Thrace, where St
Apollinaris healed a certain illustrious inhabitant from leprosy. Both
he and his companions were given shelter at the man’s home. In this land
St Apollinaris preached tirelessly about Christ and he converted many
of the pagans to Christianity, for which he was subjected to persecution
by the unbelievers. They beat the saint mercilessly, then they sent him
back to Italy aboard a ship.
After a three year absence, St
Apollinaris returned to Ravenna and was joyfully received by his flock.
The pagans, however, entered the church where the saint was serving the
Divine Liturgy, scattered those at prayer, and dragged the saint before
the idolatrous priests at the pagan temple of Apollo. The idol fell and
shattered to pieces just as the saint was brought in. The pagan priests
brought St Apollinaris to Taurus, the new governor of the district for
trial. Apollinaris performed a new miracle, healing the son of the
governor, who had been blind from birth. In gratitude for the healing of
his son, Taurus tried to protect St Apollinaris from the angry crowd.
He sent him to his own estate outside the city. Although Taurus’s wife
and son were baptized, he feared the anger of the emperor, and did not
receive Baptism. However, he was filled with gratitude and love toward
his benefactor.
St Apollinaris lived for five years at Taurus’s
estate and preached without hindrance. During this time pagan priests
sent letters of denunciation to Emperor Vespasian requesting a sentence
of death or exile for the Christian “sorcerer” Apollinaris. But the
emperor told the pagan priests that the gods were sufficiently powerful
to take revenge for themselves, if they felt insulted. All the wrath of
the pagans fell upon St Apollinaris: they seized him and beat him
fiercely as he was leaving the city for a nearby settlement. Christians
found him barely alive and took him to the settlement, where he lived
for seven days. During his final illness the saint did not cease to
teach his flock. He predicted that after the persecutions ended,
Christians would enter upon better times when they could openly and
freely confess their faith. After bestowing his archpastoral blessing
upon those present, the hieromartyr Apollinaris fell asleep in the Lord.
St Apollinaris was Bishop of Ravenna for twenty-eight years, and he
reposed in the year 75.
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