When it is said
It is sung on the feast of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus, 29 April.
A sick person with a fever, or someone praying for them, may ask the martyrs’ prayers with it at any time.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
Nine men from different towns
The nine came from different places and were of different ages, from young Antipater to old Rufus. Among them were soldiers, villagers, townsmen and clergy. They spoke openly for Christ in Cyzicus, a city of Asia Minor on the shore of the Dardanelles. They were tortured for several days and offered their freedom if they would deny Him, and in the end all nine were beheaded late in the 200s.
A monastery against fever
The monk Stefan brought part of their relics from Palestine and founded a monastery in their honour near Kazan, in Russia. People hoped the martyrs’ prayers would free them from sickness, above all the fever that was raging in Kazan in 1687. St Dimitri of Rostov wrote the martyrs’ service and said that these saints were given abundant grace to drive fevers away.
What the words mean
Fever or plague?
The Slavonic asks for grace to heal “the shaking sickness”, an old Russian name for a fever with chills. The Orthodox Church in America’s English and a modern Russian version both put “plague” in its place. The plain wording keeps the fever, the sickness St Dimitri named.
Wiktionary (Russian), трясавица; The Orthodox Church in America, troparia for 29 April
The Scripture in it
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Church Slavonic
Святи́и девяточи́сленнии му́ченицы, от разли́чных градо́в во еди́н лик совокупи́вшеся ма́нием Боже́ственным, му́жественно за Христа́ пострада́сте, неви́димаго врага́ победи́сте, злове́рныя кня́зи и мучи́тели посрами́сте ва́шим терпе́нием, огне́м же любве́ Бо́жия разжиза́еми, веще́ственно вас огнь му́чащий в хлад преложи́сте,
те́мже даде́ся вам от Христа́ Бо́га благода́ть тряса́вичную исцеля́ти боле́знь, от нея́же и многови́дных страсте́й, ми́лостивно спаса́йте и нас предста́тельством ва́шим, мо́лимся.
From the troparion for the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus, on Azbyka.ru.