Hieromartyr Symeon, Bishop in Persia, and the Martyrs with Him: Abdelas and Ananias the Presbyters, Usthazanes the Eunuch, Pusicius, Azades, Askitrea and Others (+344)
The holy Hieromartyr Symeon, Bishop in Persia, and the martyrs with him, Abdelas and Ananias the Presbyters, Usthazanes the Eunuch, Pusicius, Azades, Askitrea and others (+344). The holy Bishop Symeon met a martyr’s end in the time of Sapor II, king of Persia (310–381). The saint was accused of relations with the Greeks and of hostile acts against the king of Persia.
In 344 the king issued a decree by which a heavy tax was laid on the Christians. When some refused to pay it, the king proclaimed a general persecution of the Christians; Saint Symeon was brought in chains to the tribunal together with two other presbyters, Abdelas and Ananias. The holy bishop did not even greet the king. When Sapor showed surprise at such disrespect towards him, Symeon said to him: “Before, I paid honour to thy rank; but now I have been brought here to deny Christ, and so it is not fitting to bow down to thee.”
The king demanded that the bishop bow down to him, and otherwise threatened to root out Christianity from the whole state. Neither persuasion nor threats could break the holy bishop. He was sent to prison. On the way he was met by Usthazanes, the eunuch who had brought up the king. He bowed down to the bishop, but Saint Symeon turned his face away from him and reproached him for having worshipped the sun for fear of torture. The eunuch repented of his sin with all his heart, exchanged his costly garments for rags, and wept at the palace gates: “Woe is me, how shall I stand before my God, whom I have denied? Symeon too has turned his back on me.” The king heard of the grief of his beloved tutor and asked the reason. The eunuch declared to the king that he repented of his apostasy and from that day would worship only the one true God. The king was amazed at the old man’s decision and kindly advised him to honour the gods of his fathers. Usthazanes was unshaken. For confessing Christ he was sentenced to death. The only request of the holy Martyr Usthazanes was that heralds should announce to the whole city that he had been killed for Christianity. The king granted his tutor’s request.
News of Saint Usthazanes’ death reached Saint Symeon too. With tears he glorified the Lord. After this the holy bishop was again offered to deny Christ, and when again they received a refusal in reply, the enraged king ordered all the Christians in the prison to be beheaded before the hierarch. With the holy bishop’s blessing the Christians went fearlessly to their death and calmly laid their heads on the block. So Saint Symeon’s fellow labourer Abdelas met his end. When the presbyter Ananias’s turn came, he suddenly faltered. One of the nobles, Saint Pusicius, a secret Christian, thought that Saint Ananias was stumbling and cried aloud: “Fear not, Ananias; close thine eyes and thou shalt behold the divine light of our Lord Jesus Christ.” By this he gave himself away. By Sapor’s order Saint Pusicius’s tongue was torn out, and then he was flayed. With him his daughter Askitrea was tortured. Saint Symeon was the last to come to the executioner, and bowed his head with a prayer (+13 April 344). The torture of Christians went on throughout Bright Week. The holy eunuch Azades, a courtier close to the king, also met a martyr’s end. Historians note that in those days 1000 Christians were martyred, then 100, and then 150 more.
