Holy Martyrs Acepsimas the Bishop, Joseph the Presbyter and Aeithalas the Deacon (IV)

The holy Martyr Acepsimas the bishop governed the Church of the Persian city of Laeson. King Shapur ordered the Christian clergy to be sought out and put to death. Bishop Acepsimas too was seized; he was then an old man of eighty. It is told that when the blessed one was arrested, an acquaintance managed to get near him and whispered to him to say to whom he was leaving his house. The saint answered: “My friend, it is a strange and foolish thing to care for this poor building when the King of heaven commands me to move to the house of glory which is in heaven.” The Lord’s chosen one was brought before the court of a priest of the sun idol in the city of Arbela. The blessed one refused to offer sacrifice to the gods of the Persians, for which he was cruelly beaten and thrown into prison. The next day, after cruel torture, the seventy-year-old presbyter Joseph and the deacon Aeithalas were locked up with him. For three years the saints suffered in captivity.

When King Shapur came to the temple of the sun near Arbela, he wished to see the three holy martyrs. Exhausted, their bodies covered with wounds, the saints stood before the king, but again they boldly confessed Christ and firmly refused to worship the pagan gods. Then the holy bishop was beheaded, while the priest and the deacon were taken into the city to be stoned.