Hieromartyr Januarius the Bishop and Those Who Suffered with Him: Faustus, Proculus and Sosius the Deacons, Dositheus the Reader, Eutychius and Acutius (c. 305)

The Hieromartyr Januarius the Bishop and the Martyrs Faustus, Proculus and Sosius the Deacons, Dositheus the Reader, Eutychius and Acutius (305) met their end for Christ during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian.

Saint Januarius was seized and brought before Timothy, the governor of Campania (central Italy). For his firm confession the holy bishop was thrown into a red-hot furnace, but, like the Babylonian youths, he came out of the fire unharmed. After this the holy martyr was bound and cruelly beaten.

In the crowd gathered at the place of torture stood the holy deacon Faustus and Saint Dositheus the reader, who, watching the bishop’s sufferings, could not hide their heartache and wept. The pagans understood that they too were Christians, and threw them into the prison of the city of Puteoli together with the Hieromartyr Januarius. In the prison they found others persecuted for Christianity: the holy deacons Sosius and Proculus and the laymen Saints Eutychius and Acutius.

The next morning all the Christians were taken to the circus and thrown to the beasts to be torn apart, but the beasts did not touch them. Timothy declared that this miracle was worked by the Christians’ sorcery. God’s wrath fell on the blasphemer: he went blind and in despair called for help. The Hieromartyr Januarius prayed for Timothy’s healing and his eyes were opened, but he remained spiritually blind: again, in a rage, he accused the confessors of Christ of sorcery. By the governor’s order Bishop Januarius, the deacons Faustus, Proculus and Sosius, Dositheus the reader, Eutychius and Acutius were led out of the city and beheaded (+305).