Martyr Zebinas (Zebennus) of Caesarea

According to the contemporary Eusebius of Caesarea ("On the Martyrs of Palestine," c. 311) — the most important primary source — on the Ides of November (November 13), 309, during the persecution of Emperor Maximinus Daia, three men — the presbyter Antoninus, a youth, and a middle-aged man — openly confessed Christianity before the governor of Caesarea, Firmilianus, during a pagan sacrifice, and were beheaded together. In the Greek-Latin tradition (and in English-language scholarship) the third of them is named Zebinas (Zebennus), a native of Eleutheropolis.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE NAME VARIANT: the OFFICIAL Slavic menology (used by azbyka.ru, days.pravoslavie.ru) commemorates the very same group on November 13 under the names "Martyrs Antoninus the presbyter, Nicephorus, and Germanus of Caesarea" — that is, where the Greek (Eusebian) tradition gives the name "Zebinas/Zebennus," the Slavic tradition uses the name "Nicephorus." This is a well-known type of name divergence between traditions in ancient martyrologies, referring to ONE AND THE SAME event, not different people.

IMPORTANT CATEGORY CORRECTION: among this group of three martyrs, it was specifically Antoninus who was the priest (presbyter) — not Zebinas/Nicephorus, who was a young layman. Thus the title "hieromartyr" assigned to this entry, strictly speaking, belongs to his fellow martyr Antoninus, not to Zebinas/Nicephorus himself, who was a layman. The category has been corrected from hieromartyr to martyr.

A SEPARATE WARNING ABOUT POSSIBLE CONFUSION: there is also a separate, historically attested BISHOP Zebennus of Eleutheropolis, recorded by the historian Sozomen as living around 393 (roughly 80 years after the martyrdom described above), under whom the relics of the Prophets Micah and Habakkuk were reportedly discovered near Eleutheropolis — no record of his martyrdom survives, and he appears to be a separate person, unrelated to the martyr described here, who happened to share the same name and see.