Military saint

The military saints or warrior saints (also called soldier saints) of the Early Christian Church are prominent in the history of Christianity. The persecution of Christians under Diocletian or other Roman Emperors usually furnished the background for soldier-saint hagiography which has a common theme: a soldier of the Empire who has become a Christian finds that his devotion conflicts with traditional religious practices of the Roman military. Refusing to participate in rituals of loyalty to the Emperor (see Imperial cult), he is subjected to corporal punishment that escalates to torture—which miraculously may not affect him—but he does not deny his faith and is martyred. Such a saint was an "athlete of Christ" or "champion of Christ" (athleta Christi).

Significance

In Late Antiquity other Christian writers of hagiography, like Sulpicius Severus in his account of the heroic, military life of Martin of Tours, created a literary model that reflected the new spiritual, political, and social ideals of a post-Roman society. In a study of Anglo-Saxon soldier saints (Damon 2003), J.E. Damon has demonstrated the persistence of Sulpicius's literary model in the transformation of the pious, peaceful saints and willing martyrs of late antique hagiography to the Christian heroes of the early Middle Ages, who appealed to the newly converted societies led by professional warriors and who exemplified accommodation with and eventually active participation in holy wars that were considered just. A similar development in the cult of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki has been observed; although always described as a soldier, depictions of him were in civilian dress for centuries until around the turn of the millennium, after which he is nearly always shown fully armed.

Demetrius of Thessaloniki

Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki (Greek: Άγιος Δημήτριος της Θεσσαλονίκης) is a Christian martyr of the early 4th century AD.

During the Middle Ages, he came to be revered as one of the most important Orthodox military saints, often paired with Saint George. His feast day is 26 October for Eastern Orthodox Christians following the Gregorian calendar and 8 November for those following the Julian calendar. In the Roman Catholic church he is most commonly called "Demetrius of Sermium" and his memorial falls on 8 October.

Name

The spelling "Demetrius" is a romanization of the ancient Greek pronunciation; the Byzantine and Modern Greek pronunciation is romanized as Dimitrios or Demetrios. See Demetrios for more on the etymology of the name.

In Russian, he is called Димитрий Солунский ([dimitri solunski] 'Dimitri of Saloniki') and was a patron saint of the Rurik dynasty from the late 11th century on. Izyaslav I of Kiev (whose Christian name was Dimitry) founded the first East Slavic monastery dedicated to this saint. The name Dimitry is in common use.

Saint

A saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, or likeness to God. While the English term "saint" originated in Christianity, historians of religion now use the appellation "in a more general way to refer to the state of special holiness that many religions attribute to certain people," with the Jewish Tzadik, the Islamic Mu'min, the Hindu rishi or Sikh guru, and the Buddhist arhat or bodhisattva also being referred to as "saints". Depending on the religion, saints are recognized either by official ecclesiastical declaration/denomination or by popular acclamation (see folk saints).

In Christianity, "saint" has a wide variety of meanings, depending on the context and denomination. The original Christian denotation was any believer who is "in Christ" and in whom Christ dwells, whether in Heaven or on earth. In Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic doctrine, all of their faithful deceased in Heaven are considered to be saints, but some are considered worthy of greater honor, emulation, or veneration, with official ecclesiastical recognition given to some saints by canonization or glorification.

Great martyr

Great Martyr or Great-Martyr (Greek: μεγαλομάρτυρ, megalomartyr, from megas, "great" + "martyr") is a classification of saints who are venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Rite of Constantinople.

Generally speaking, a Great Martyr is a martyr who has undergone excruciating tortures—often performing miracles and converting unbelievers to Christianity in the process—and who has attained widespread veneration throughout the Church. These saints are often from the 1st centuries of the Church, before the Edict of Milan. This term is normally not applied to saints who could be better described as hieromartyrs (martyred clergy) or protomartyrs (the first martyr in a given region).

Partial list of Great Martyrs

Roger Moore

Sir Roger George Moore KBE (born 14 October 1927) is an English actor. Moore played the British secret agent James Bond in seven feature films between 1973 and 1985; he remains the oldest actor to have played the character. Moore worked as a model and made several appearances in minor films and television dramas before finding more substantial roles in the television serials Ivanhoe (1958–1959), The Alaskans (1960–1961) and Maverick (1961). Moore's most significant television work came with his portrayal of Simon Templar in The Saint from 1962 to 1969 and his starring alongside Tony Curtis in the television drama The Persuaders! (1971).

Moore was cast as Bond in 1973 and portrayed him in Live and Let Die (1973); The Man with the Golden Gun (1974); The Spy Who Loved Me (1977); Moonraker (1979); For Your Eyes Only (1981); Octopussy (1983); and A View to a Kill (1985). Moore worked regularly throughout his Bond era, and has worked sporadically since. He is a Goodwill Ambassador for the charity organization UNICEF, and has demonstrated against the production of foie gras. Moore has been a tax exile from the United Kingdom since the 1970s. Moore has been married four times, including to the Welsh singer Dorothy Squires and the Italian actress Luisa Mattioli, with whom he had three children. Moore published an autobiography in 2008, and has written other books of reminiscences of his career and filming Bond.