Hieromartyr Euplius of Catania, Archdeacon

Hieromartyr Euplius served as archdeacon of the church in Catania, Sicily, and, in defiance of Emperor Diocletian's edict banning the possession and reading of Christian books, constantly carried a copy of the Gospel and openly preached from it to the people. He was seized while publicly reading the Gospel and brought to trial before the governor Calvisianus. Firmly confessing his faith in Christ and denouncing pagan idolatry, he was tortured and imprisoned for seven days, during which, tradition holds, a spring of water miraculously appeared in his cell to relieve his thirst. At a second interrogation, Euplius again refused to renounce Christ, denouncing the judge's injustice. Condemned to death, he had his ears cut off and was then beheaded with the Gospel hung around his neck; before his execution he was permitted to read the Gospel once more to the assembled crowd, leading to many conversions. In ancient Rus', churches were dedicated to St. Euplius — a wooden church on Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow, built in 1471 to commemorate Ivan III's peace with Novgorod, later rebuilt in stone (1657) and demolished in 1926. His memory is kept on August 11/24.