Martyr
Martyr Agathonicea
II-III век
Martyr Agathonike — blood sister of the deacon Papylus, who voluntarily ascended the pyre after him, Bishop Carpus of Thyatira, and their servant Agathodorus, whose steadfastness she witnessed in Pergamum and Sardis in Asia Minor; the exact date of the persecution is not firmly established (both Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Decius are named in the sources).
Martyr Agathonike (Agathonike of Pergamum) was the blood sister of the deacon Papylus (Papylus of Thyatira), companion of Bishop Carpus of Thyatira (Pergamum). They refused to sacrifice to idols by imperial decree and were led in chains between Thyatira and Sardis.
Bishop Carpus was tortured with iron claws and burned alive; the deacon Papylus was subjected to similar torture and likewise burned; their servant Agathodorus was beaten to death with ox sinews (according to another version, burned together with them). Agathonike, seeing the steadfastness of her brother and his fellow martyrs, voluntarily ascended the pyre after them and likewise suffered martyrdom (according to some sources, burned; according to others, beheaded).
The time of the persecution is given differently by different sources — sometimes under Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180), sometimes under Emperor Decius (249-251); the Orthodox Encyclopedia notes that the exact date is not established.
IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION: this saint is not a corruption of the male name "Agathonicus" (a separate martyr, one of a group led by Zoticus, beheaded at Seleucia in Thrace, feast August 22/September 4, unrelated to this entry), but an independent female martyr attested in the primary sources; the category_gender "f" is confirmed correct, no error exists here.
Her feast is kept on October 13/26; the Western (Catholic) tradition separately venerates the same group on April 13.