Hieromartyr Abdas the Bishop and Benjamin the Deacon (+418–424)

The Hieromartyr Abdas the Bishop and Benjamin the Deacon (+418–424). Saint Abdas laboured in Persia. For destroying a Mazdean temple the Persian king Yazdegerd I (399–420) ordered the hierarch to rebuild the temple. Saint Abdas rejected the demand, and this was followed by the sacking of the Christian church and the persecution of Christians. The first victim was Abdas himself. After long torture Saint Abdas was beheaded in the Persian city of Susa. A month later other Christians were martyred too, among them the deacon Benjamin.