Hieromartyr Zenobius, Bishop of Aegae, and Zenobia (+285)

The Hieromartyr Zenobius, bishop of Aegae, and Zenobia were brother and sister. Brought up in the fear of God by Orthodox parents, the brother and sister gave away all the property they had inherited to the poor. For his holy life Zenobius was consecrated bishop. The blessed hierarch preached the Christian faith among the pagans tirelessly, and by the gift given him by God healed the sick without payment. When the Emperor Diocletian (284–305) began to persecute the Orthodox, Saint Zenobius was seized and brought before the court of the governor Lysias. The lawless ruler said to the hierarch: “I will not waste words: I offer you life, if you worship our gods, and death, if you do not.” The blessed one replied: “This passing life without Christ is not life but death; it is better for me to endure temporary torments for my Creator and afterwards to dwell with Him inseparably, than to deny Him at the price of a moment’s life and share in the eternal torments of hell.”

By order of Lysias the hierarch was nailed to a cross. The bishop’s sister Zenobia rebuked the cruelty of the tormentors and boldly confessed Christ. For this the godless brought many kinds of torment upon her too. At last the martyrs were beheaded. The priest Hermogenes committed the holy bodies of the Lord’s chosen ones to the earth. This happened in 285.