The Venerable Martyrs Epictetus and Astion

Life

Astion, the only child of his parents, was led to the faith of Christ by the priest Epictetus, who baptized and tonsured him. Afterward they moved from somewhere in the eastern lands to the Scythian regions and settled in the Scythian city of Almiridus (now Ramzinu) at the mouth of the Danube where it flows into the Black Sea. They were tortured and beheaded for the faith of Christ around the year 290. Both appeared after death in great light to the parents of Saint Astion, Alexander and Marcellina, who converted to Christ and were baptized by Bishop Evangelus, who himself was afterward beheaded for Christ — "Evangelus, another angel," as it was sung of him.