Holy Martyr Codratus and the Women and Men Who Suffered with Him (+258)

The holy Martyr Codratus and the women and men who suffered with him (+258). During one of the persecutions of Christians a pious woman of Corinth named Rufina took refuge in the mountains. Here she gave birth to a son, Codratus. After the birth the mother died, but by God’s providence the infant survived. The child grew up in a miraculous way: a cloud came down over his head and gave him sweet dew. Saint Codratus spent his childhood and boyhood in the desert. When he grew older he met Christians, who enlightened him in the true faith. Saint Codratus became an excellent physician. He loved the silence of the desert very much and spent much time in solitude in the mountains. Many years passed. His friends and followers often came to the saint in the desert: Cyprian, Dionysius, Anectus, Paul, Crescens and others.

In the time of Decius (249–251), a cruel persecutor of Christians, Saint Codratus and his friends were seized by order of Jason, the governor of Corinth, and put in prison. No promises and no threats could break the saints. In spite of cruel torture and unbearable pain Saint Codratus found strength to encourage the others. Jason ordered the saints to be thrown to the beasts to be torn apart, but the beasts did not touch them. Then the Christians were tied to chariots and dragged through the city, and at last they were beheaded.

Other disciples of Codratus also met a martyr’s end: Dionysius (Sabbas) was hacked to pieces with the sword; Victorinus, Victor and Nicephorus were thrown alive into a stone quarry; Claudius’s hands and feet were cut off; Diodorus himself climbed onto the pyre prepared for him; Serapion was beheaded; Papias and Leonides were drowned in the sea. Together with the men, many women also suffered for Christ.