Holy Martyrs Carpus, Bishop of Thyatira, Papylus the Deacon, Agathodorus and Agathonica

The holy Martyrs Carpus, bishop of Thyatira, Papylus the deacon, Agathodorus and Agathonica suffered for Christ, according to one account in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (160–181), and according to the testimony of another source in the reign of Decius (249–251), in 251.

The governor of the province where the Lord’s chosen ones lived learned that Carpus and Papylus did not take part in the pagan festivals, and ordered the lawbreakers to be brought to him. At the judge’s command the saints were stripped and led in fetters round the whole city. Then they were tied to horses and dragged from Thyatira (Lydia) to the neighbouring city of Sardis. Their servant Agathodorus went with the martyrs of his own will, and the executioners beat him to death with ox sinews. After torture Carpus and Papylus were sent to the city of Pergamum in Mysia. There the saints were terribly tortured and at last thrown into a heated furnace. Saint Agathonica too went into the furnace with the martyrs, but by the will of God they all came through unharmed: suddenly a heavy rain came down from heaven and put out the fire. The godless beheaded all three.