Martyr
Martyr Akindinus
IV век (ок. 330-345)
Martyr Akindinos — a courtier of the Persian king Shapur II, a secret Christian, denounced by informers and brought together with the courtiers Pegasius and Anempodistus before the king; after cruel torture by fire, sea, and a pit of venomous serpents, all three were burned alive, while the courtier Aphthonius and the nobleman Elpidiphorus, converted by their feat, were beheaded.
Martyr Akindinos was a courtier of the Persian king Shapur II (r. 309-379), a secret Christian together with two other courtiers, Pegasius and Anempodistus. When Shapur began a persecution of Christians, informers betrayed them to the king; brought before him, all three fearlessly confessed faith in the Holy Trinity.
One of the torturers, Aphthonius, was so moved by their steadfastness that he publicly asked their forgiveness for the suffering he had inflicted and himself went to execution as a confessor. The royal nobleman Elpidiphorus, and even the king's own mother, turned to the true God, seeing the martyrs' feat.
Akindinos, Pegasius, and Anempodistus endured beatings, torture by fire and iron hooks, were thrown into the sea, then into a pit of venomous serpents, and were finally burned alive. Aphthonius and Elpidiphorus were beheaded by the sword.
The account survives in a Greek Life attributed to Venerable Symeon Metaphrastes (10th c.); no early Syriac testimony from the Persian church has been found, which the Orthodox Encyclopedia notes as a minor historical caveat, typical of many Metaphrastic Persian martyrdoms — not grounds to consider the account fictitious. Two churches in Constantinople were dedicated to them, confirming the authenticity of ancient veneration.
The feast is kept on November 2/15.
IMPORTANT CORRECTION: a duplicate entry in the images array (the same file listed twice due to a technical synchronization bug) has been removed — one entry remains.