Tomorrow, January 16, is the

day of memory of the holy martyr Gordius

in the Orthodox calendar .

He lived at the end of the 3rd century, was a centurion in the Roman army and came from the Cappadocian city of Caesarea.

One day he decided to surrender his powers and go to live in the desert to fight there.

Once he heard that Christians were being persecuted in the city.

Then Gordius appeared at the festival in honor of the pagan god Mars, began to preach Christianity and even destroyed the idol.

The chief ordered him to be captured and severely tortured.

However, Gordius was adamant, and therefore the chief changed his anger to mercy, but began to persuade the saint to renounce Christianity.

To which I received a negative response.

Then Gordius was taken to be executed.

Before his death, he said that before the Lord he would renounce those people who renounced Gordius himself.

After that, he was executed with a sword.

In honor of the saint, on January 16, the national holiday of

Gordia

is celebrated .

Signs of January 16

Folk signs on January 16 / Photo: Pexels

  • a circle around the moon - soon there will be severe frosts;

  • on frost trees - the weather will be dry and clear;

  • a blizzard means that bees will swarm well;

  • blizzard clouds float across the sky.

What can't be done tomorrow

The Church categorically forbids being proud of something or bragging about one's deeds on this day.

They say that otherwise Saint Gordius will come and take everything away from you.

It is also better not to clean the house, it is especially forbidden to sweep the floor, because you can "sweep" your happiness over the threshold.

What can be done tomorrow

Our ancestors believed that on this day it is necessary to turn to a healer in order to be cured of an evil eye or other ailments.

However, it is very important to be careful, because the exorcised demon can settle in a pet.

To prevent this from happening, they tried to clean the barn on January 16 and feed the cattle well.

And they also fed cheese dishes, because they believed that they would bring happiness to the home.

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