Many people associate the name Apollo with the mythical ancient Greek god, who is the patron saint of the art of Ancient Greece. In the Christian Church there are saints who glorified this name with their exploits and appear in the Orthodox calendar under the name Apollo.
In the Orthodox calendar there are two saints named Apollo. One of them lived in the 4th century in Egypt, and the other relatively recently - in the 20th century in our state.
On June 18, the Christian Church commemorates several Egyptian martyrs who suffered for their faith in Christ during the reign of Emperor Maximian (beginning of the 4th century: from 305 to 311). Among the holy martyrs was the martyr Apollo. The righteous lived a holy life, which could not fail to attract the attention of the pagan authorities who had a negative attitude towards Christians. The saints were beaten for professing the Christian faith and then imprisoned. In the dungeon an angel of the Lord appeared to the sufferers and healed the righteous from mutilations. Many pagans witnessed such a miracle, who later, thanks to this event, received holy baptism and converted to faith in God. Despite such a sign from above, the martyr Apollo and others were left with him in prison, where they died of thirst and hunger.
The second saint Apollo is our compatriot - the saint martyr Apollo Babichev. This righteous man was glorified among the saints of the Russian Church in 2000, as the New Martyr of Russia.
Martyr Apollon Babichev was a psalmist in the church. He participated in divine services as a reader in the kliros. The Soviet authorities arrested Apollo for allegedly anti-Soviet propaganda and counter-revolutionary activities. During interrogations, the martyr did not recognize himself as an enemy of the Soviet Union, testified that he had nothing against state power, but was a Christian and took part in divine services as a reader. However, this did not become an argument for a pardon. In 1937, the martyr Apollo, along with other martyrs, including priests, suffered a violent death.
The memory of the holy martyr Apollo Babichev is celebrated on November 23 in a new style.
