Holy Martyrs Carpus and Papylus

Life

Carpus was Bishop of Thyatira and Papylus was a deacon. They were by origin from Pergamum, where at last they suffered for the faith of Christ at the hands of the wicked governor Valerius, during the reign of Decius. Valerius bound them to horses and drove them to Sardis, where he subjected them to cruel tortures, but an angel of God appeared to them, healed their wounds, and strengthened them. Carpus's servant Agathodorus followed his master with great sorrow, until they seized him too for torture. Then Valerius bound them again to horses and dragged them from Sardis to Pergamum. When holy Carpus was tied to a tree and flogged so severely that his whole body was turned into wounds and his blood flowed like a stream upon the earth, Saint Carpus laughed in the midst of those terrible torments. When they asked him why he was laughing, the holy martyr answered that he beheld the heavens opened and the Lord seated upon His throne, with the Cherubim and Seraphim all around. During the torture of Papylus, this holy martyr healed a man who was blind in one eye through his prayer. And many, seeing this, believed in Christ the Lord. When the martyrs were thrown before wild beasts, they remained unharmed. When they were thrown into a fiery furnace, Agathonice, the sister of Papylus, saw this and she too leaped into the fire. But the fire did not burn them. At last they were all beheaded by the sword, in 251. And so, after good struggles, they received the crown of glory in the Kingdom of Christ.

From the Hymn of Praise

### HOLY GREAT MARTYR ZLATA OF MEGLEN