November 15 / November 2

1.  The Holy Martyrs Acyndinus, Pegasius, Aphthonius, Elpidephorus, Anempodistus, and others with them, of Persia (341)

They were all Christians from Persia and suffered during the reign of King Sapor in the year 355. The first three were servants at the court of this same king but secretly served Christ their Lord. When they were accused and brought to trial before the king, he asked them where they came from. To this they replied: “Our fatherland and our life is the Most-holy Trinity, one in Essence and undivided, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God.” The king subjected them to cruel tortures but they endured all heroically, with psalmody and prayer on their lips. During the time of their torture and imprisonment angels of God appeared to them many times, and one time the Lord Christ Himself appeared to them as a man “with a face radiant as the sun.” When one of the torturers, Aphthonius, beheld a miracle, when boiling lead did no harm to the martyrs, he believed in Christ and cried out: “Great is the Christian God!” For this, he was immediately beheaded, and many others saw and believed. Then the king ordered that Acyndinus, Pega- sius and Anempodistus be sewn into animal skins and cast into the sea. But St. Aphthonius appeared from the other world with three shin- ing angels, and led the holy martyrs to dry land and set them free. Elpidephorus was one of the king’s nobles. When he revealed that he was a Christian and denounced theking for his slaughter of innocent Christians, the king condemned him to death and Elpidephorus was beheaded along with seven thousand other Christians. Then those first three martyrs [Acyndinus, Pega- sius and Anempodistus] were finally thrown into a burning furnace along with twenty-eight soldiers and the king’s mother, since they also believed in Christ—and thus, in the flames, they gave up their righteous souls into the hands of the Lord.

2.   The Venerable Monk Marcian of Cyrrhus in Syria (ca. 387)

Marcian was from the town of Cyrrhus in Syria. He was distinguished by his noble ancestry as well as by his physical beauty. He left all for the sake of Christ and withdrew into the wilderness of Halkis to live as a hermit. He was a contemporary of Patriarch Flavian of Antioch and the Emperors Constantius and Valens. A heavenly light shone in his cell at night by which he read the Holy Scriptures, and he never had need of any other light. He was a great miracle-worker both during his life and after death. Before his death, he ordered his disciple Eusebius to conceal his body and bury it secretly because of his many admirers. He entered into rest in the Lord in 387.

3.  The Hieromartyr Victorinus, Bishop of Patav

Many maintain that he was a Slovene by ancestry. Blessed Jerome points him out as a learned and devout man. He knew Greek better than Latin. He wrote the interpretations of several books of the New and Old Testaments. He suffered for the Christian Faith in about the year 303.

• Erc, bishop of Slane, Ireland (512).
• Anthony the Confessor, archbishop of Thessalonica (844).
• Blessed Cyprian of Storozhev, former outlaw (16th ).
• New Hieromartyr Basil, priest, of Glazomicha (1918).

HYMN OF PRAISE

The Holy Martyrs Acyndinus, Pegasius,
Anempodistus, Aphthonius and Elpidephorus

The martyr Acyndinus and with him Pegasius,
Courageous Anempodistus and with him Aphthonius,
And the gentle Elipidephorus, a royal dignitary:
All—sacrificial lambs, snow-white lambs.
They showed themselves servants of the Most-holy Trinity,
And declared Christ to Sapor, face to face.
For them, martyrdom was a celebration.
Christ was dearer to them than youth and health;
Christ was dearer to them than royal delights;
Christ was dearer to them than royal honors.
Whatever the world gave them, they gave away for Christ;
They fell as noble sacrifices for Christ;
They fell in disgrace and rose in radiance;
They fell on earth and rose in Paradise.
For the Church on earth, they shed their blood;
In the heavenly Church they completed the edifice of their souls.
Filled with love for the Christian race,
They now pray to the risen Christ
That He preserve the Church on earth from misfortune,
And lead it to the final victory.

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