Holy Martyr Uar (†307)

The Holy Martyr Uar is especially loved by the Russian people. They resort to his intercession, asking for relief from the fate of the souls of relatives and neighbors who died in unbelief, who did not receive Holy Baptism, who did not know the True God, who deviated from God's truth. In addition, they pray to Saint Ouar for the health of infants and young children, as well as for infants who died in their mother's womb or during childbirth.

The Holy Martyr Uar lived during the reign of the impious Roman emperor Maximian in Alexandria in the 4th century and was a military leader of the Tian cohort. Believing in the True God, but fearing idolaters, he hid his faith. Not having the courage to openly confess his faith during the persecution, Ouar went around prisons at night, looked after the martyrs and asked for their prayers.

One day he learned that among the prisoners there were seven Christian desert teachers. They were tortured, and then the bound ones were thrown into a prison cell, where they starved for several days. Having bribed the watchmen, Ouar entered the prison, freed the martyrs from their shackles, gave them drink and food.

« Pray for me, saints of God,” he asked, “and I would like to suffer for Christ, but I am afraid of torture.” "Remember what is said in the Gospel," answered the martyrs. Let's go, brother, with us to Christ on the martyr's path - let's endure together«.

The next morning, one of the martyrs died of his wounds, and Saint Ouar, standing before the governor instead of him, said that he wanted to suffer with the Christians. They began to torture him: they tortured him, hewn them with iron knives, then, nailing him upside down to a tree, they tore off the skin from his back, and beat him in the stomach with knotted sticks until the insides fell to the ground. When Saint Ouar died, his body was dragged out of the city and thrown to be eaten by dogs.

One pious widow named Cleopatra, whose husband was a military commander in Egypt, looked with sorrow from afar at the sufferings of St. Ouar. When his body was thrown outside the city, blessed Cleopatra secretly brought him to her house at night and buried him in her bedroom. She constantly lit candles over the tomb of the holy martyr and prayed fervently, revering him as a great intercessor and intercessor before God.

When the persecution ceased, Cleopatra left for Palestine, in the village of Edra. Under the guise of the remains of her husband, Cleopatra transferred the relics of the holy martyr Uar and laid them in the ancient tomb of her ancestors. Every day she went to the tomb, lit candles, burned incense, and following her example, other Christians began to resort to the prayers of St. Huar and received healing at his tomb.

Blessed Cleopatra, seeing that many people were going to the tomb of Huar, decided to build a temple in his honor. By that time, her son John had reached the age of seventeen. Cleopatra asked the king for an honorary position in the army for him and decided that he would begin his service after the construction of the temple was completed. When the church was built, blessed Cleopatra called for bishops, priests, and monks, and the honest relics of St. Varus were transferred to a precious bed, and on top of the relics Cleopatra placed a belt and military clothing, which her son was soon to put on. She fervently prayed to Saint Uar that he would be an assistant to her son and would ask the Lord for him what would be pleasing to Him, and useful to her son.

After the consecration of the temple, the relics of Saint Ouar were placed under the altar, on which they celebrated the Divine Liturgy. After the service, blessed Cleopatra arranged a feast for the guests and, together with her son, served them. Suddenly, John fell ill with a fever and died at midnight, leaving his mother in inconsolable grief. Weeping, Cleopatra rushed to the temple and, crouching down to the tomb, began to reproach the holy martyr: This is how you repaid me, the saint of God, for having worked so hard for you! You gave me such help when I placed all my hope in you! Who will bury my body? I'd rather die myself than see my son dead. Give it to me, or take me out of here at once, for life has become a burden to me from bitter sadness.».

From extreme fatigue and great sorrow, Cleopatra fell asleep right at the tomb. In a dream, Saint Ouar appeared to her, holding her son in his arms. Both of them were bright as the sun, and their clothes were whiter than snow; they wore golden belts and beautiful crowns on their heads. Seeing them, blessed Cleopatra threw herself at the feet of the saints, but the martyr Ouar raised her up and said: Oh woman, what are you complaining about me? Do you think that I have forgotten the good deeds that you have shown me? Do I not always listen to your prayers and pray to God for you? And first of all, I begged God for your relatives, who were not worthy of Holy Baptism, with whom you laid me in the tomb, so that their sins would be forgiven. Then I took your son to the service of the Heavenly King. Didn't you yourself pray to ask God for him what would be pleasing to Him and useful to you and your son? Your son is now before the Throne of God and serves the King of Heaven, but if you want him to serve the king of the earth and the temporal, take him back". But the lad who was sitting on the arms of Saint Uar embraced him and said: No, my intercessor! Do not listen to my mother, do not deprive me of fellowship with the saints". Addressing blessed Cleopatra, Saint John said: Why are you crying, my mother? I am numbered among the host of heaven and stand before Christ together with the angels. Blessed Cleopatra said: “Take me with you so that I can be with you". But Saint Ouar answered: And here, remaining on earth, you are still with us; go in peace, and then, when the Lord commands, we will come to take you».

After these words, both of them became invisible. Coming to her senses, blessed Cleopatra felt unspeakable joy and told the priests about the vision. Together with them, she honorably buried her son at the tomb of Saint Huar, no longer weeping, but rejoicing in the Lord. After that, Cleopatra distributed her estate to the needy and, having renounced the world, began to live at the church of St. Huar, spending day and night in fasting and prayers. Every Sunday, during prayer, Saint Ouar appeared to her with her son.

After spending seven years in such deeds and pleasing God, blessed Cleopatra reposed in the year 327.

The Holy Martyr Uar is the only Christian saint who is a heavenly intercessor for the unbaptized dead and babies who died in the womb or during childbirth. In pre-revolutionary Russia there was not a single church in honor of St. Ouar, and this is no coincidence: all the people, with the exception of the Gentiles, were baptized in the Orthodox faith, and therefore there was no need to resort to the intercession of the holy martyr. In our time, the need for the prayerful appeal of believers to this saint is extremely acute: after all, for more than 70 years of theomachy power in our country, millions of people were forcibly excommunicated from the Church; they lived, worked, fought, and left this world without having received Holy Baptism. And even today, not everyone who associates himself with the traditions and culture of our people is in a hurry to accept the sacrament of Baptism.

In 2008 in Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin reopened after restoration chapel in honor of the holy martyr Uar.

Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin

Chapel of Saint War in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin

This aisle was built at the beginning of the 17th century. There are two reasons for this. During the Time of Troubles many children died unbaptized. The gentry, Poles, Swedes, Lithuanians, invaders brought to Russia not only the destruction of churches and monasteries, but also hunger, cold, epidemics, and many children died in these troubles, who did not accept baptism due to circumstances, including because of destruction of churches and monasteries by the Poles. His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes blessed the commemoration, blessed the prayer to the martyr Uar to alleviate the fate of unbaptized children. It was from that time that it began Canon to the Martyr Uar. Patriarch Hermogenes blessed the creation of the border to the martyr Ouar also for this reason. Tsarevich Dmitry, the last son of Ivan the Terrible, who died at the end of the 16th century, like everyone else at that time, had two names: Dmitry is a baptismal name, and the second (maternity) name of Tsarevich Dmitry was War. And when his veneration spread among Muscovites, a chapel dedicated to the martyr Uar was built, and the appeal to Uar began to enter into the everyday life of believers in Russia.

You can pray to Saint Ouar for the unbaptized

The Church does not normally pray for the unbaptized, their names are not allowed to be commemorated at the Divine Liturgy and funeral services, - however, you can ask for them by prayerfully turning to the holy martyr Uar.

You can also pray to him for the babies in the womb of the slain. You can ask the holy martyr Uar for a drug addict son, a prostitute daughter, for a sectarian brother ... If your prayer is heard, Uar will ask for them before the Lord God.

There are testimonies of believers about the fulfillment of their prayers to Saint Ouar for their unbaptized relatives. So many people tell how the souls of the unbaptized come in a dream, communicate with their relatives, ask them to pray and say that the prayer is heard by God, that it becomes easier for them. And this is exactly what the canon to the martyr Uar is about, that there is an opportunity to alleviate the lot of the unbaptized, and this is confirmed by practice. There were times when they did not know whether a person was baptized or not, and then the soul came and reported that the baptism was and it was possible to sing it according to the charter. This applied in particular to many soldiers who died and were thought to be unbaptized. But they were baptized before the war by monks who secretly lived in those years in Soviet Russia. And when they inquired from distant, distant relatives, it really turned out that the person was baptized. Such cases also happen repeatedly.

The practice of prayers to the martyr Uar confirms that this prayer is saving, saving, both for the dead and for the living and those who cross the threshold of the temple. And they are led by love, love for their relatives. But God is love, which means that God leads them, which means that the Lord Himself blesses them.

REMEMBER!!!
It is IMPOSSIBLE to leave notes for the repose and commemorate unbaptized and suicides in the temple. Only private, domestic prayer is allowed and has always been allowed for the unbaptized. You can pray to Saint Huar FOR the unbaptized, but NOT for suicides.

For home cell prayer for deceased non-Orthodox relatives, we can recommend Canon to the Martyr Huar, but it is forbidden to read this canon in Orthodox churches and chapels at public services and services.

Venerable Elder Lev of Optina, not allowing church prayer for those who died outside the Church (suicides, unbaptized, heretics), he bequeathed to pray for them privately as follows:

Seek, O Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible to eat, have mercy. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put this prayer of mine in sin, but Thy holy will be done.

A remarkable example of the effectiveness of personal prayer can be found in the life of St. Gregory the Dialogist: when he learned that the long-dead Roman emperor Trajan had done a work of such great mercy that it seemed to be more of a Christian than a pagan (hurriedly opposing the enemy at the head of the army, the emperor stopped in all his armor and interceded for the offended widow), then shed streams of tears in prayer for the soul of this man and received assurance through Divine revelation that his prayers were answered. The soul of the pagan emperor was delivered from hell and even implored by the tears of St. Gregory. Although this is a very rare case, it gives hope to those whose loved ones have died outside the Church.

Prayer for the deceased unbaptized, St. martyr Huar
Oh, holy martyr Uare, venerable, with zeal for the Mistress of Christ, we kindle the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and now the Church honors you, as if glorified from the Lord Christ with the glory of Heaven, Who has given you the grace of great boldness towards Him, and now stand before Him with the Angels, and in the Highest you rejoice, and see the Holy Trinity clearly, and enjoy the light of the Beginning Radiance: remember our relatives and languor, who died in ungodliness, accept our petition, and like Cleopatra, the unfaithful generation freed you from eternal torment with your prayers, so remember the trees of the godly buried, who died unbaptized (names), trying to ask them for deliverance from eternal darkness, so that with one mouth and one heart we praise the Most Merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK