Holy Apostles Aristarchus, Pudens, and Trophimus

Life

These were of the number of the Seventy Apostles. Aristarchus was bishop in Apamea of Syria. The Apostle Paul mentions him several times (Acts 19:29; Col. 4:10; Philem. 23). In Ephesus he was seized together with Gaius by the crowd that had risen up against Paul. To the Colossians the Apostle Paul writes: Aristarchus my fellow prisoner saluteth you. And in his Epistle to Philemon, Paul calls Aristarchus my fellow laborer, together with Mark, Demas, and Luke. Pudens was a distinguished citizen of Rome. The Apostle Paul mentions him once (2 Tim. 4:21). The house of Pudens was at first a refuge for the chief apostles, and afterward was converted into a church called the Pastoral Church. Trophimus was from Asia (Acts 20:4) and followed the Apostle Paul on his journeys. In one place the Apostle Paul writes: Trophimus have I left at Miletus sick (2 Tim. 4:20). In the time of Nero's persecution, when the Apostle Paul was beheaded, all three of these glorious apostles were also beheaded.

From the Hymn of Praise

### THE HOLY MARTYRSThe radiant martyrs poured out their own blood,And all the dark earth with their blood was stained.Fierce was the fire in which they burned,But fiercer still the love with which they loved their Christ.