The life of St Erazmo of Ochrid
Word of this reached the emperor, who had him brought before an idol of Zeus and ordered him to sacrifice. Tradition tells that at that moment a serpent came out of the idol itself, and that Erasmus's prayer was stronger than it, so that the creature died before the crowd. He went on preaching and baptized a great many more, and for that the emperor had those converts killed and Erasmus tortured and imprisoned, from which an angel led him out. He went on to preach in Campania, in the same line of tradition that keeps him in the West as well, and at the last came back to a town near Ohrid, where he lived out his days in a cave. He died there at prayer, with his arms lifted up, asking that whoever called on his name afterward be shown mercy, and the Church holds that a voice answered him that it would be so. A small church still stands over that cave.
