Saint Astius, bishop of Durres, whose memory is celebrated on July 6, with his horrible martyrdom, annihilated distances with God, eliminated human weaknesses and bridged the gap with heaven.
Christ struck the door of his heart. Saint Astius did not react jokingly, but he drew the latch, and Christ lodged there.
Although an hierarch himself, the rulers of the city of Durres, Emperor Trajan, a persecutor of Christians, and the local governor of Durres, Agricola, asked him to sacrifice to idols. Saint Astius refused adamantly to execute the order.
He considered it inconceivable to use his hands in the service of evil; these hands, which rose and prayed to the Lord.
He obeyed the will of God because he had the unshakeable faith in serving the truth, the good, the beneficial, that leads to the spiritual rise, the inner peace and the manifestation of love, the one that leads to the spiritual godliness.
After having undergone many tortures, beaten fiercely with leaden rods and oxhide whips, they smeared his body with honey, so as to increase his suffering with the stings of hornets and flies, and crucified him.
It was a hot and long summer, and the wasps ravaged his body, and he eventually passed away, to receive from God the wreaths of victory.
So his enemies could not hurt him.
It was fortunate for him to believe in Christ because his spirit was free and disobedient. A shine from the light of God that brightened the course of mankind.
