By Bishop Grigorios of Mesaoria
Our Church today, February 11, commemorates Saint Hieromartyr Blaise (Vlasios) and martyr George the Newa.
Saint Blaise lived in the years of Emperor Licinius. He studied medicine, which he did not practice as a profession, but as a charity and offering to the sufferer. At the same time he was constantly studying the Bible.
The Church, rewarding his presence and offerings, accepted him into the ranks of the clergy and eventually ordained him Bishop of Sebaste. Shortly afterwards, Saint Blaise, motivated by love and humility, abandoned his bishopric and spent most of his life in a cave. There he dedicated himself to prayer and spiritual practice for he had experienced the envy, hypocrisy and vanity of the people.
When later the persecution against the Christians began, the disgusted governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, Agricolaus, ordered his arrest and later, after horrific torture, beheaded him. Thus Blaise the fighter sealed his earthly life with a martyred death because of his faith and love for the Triune God.
Source: Church of Cyprus