Hieromartyr Antipas of Pergamum

Hieromartyr Antipas was a personal disciple of St. John the Theologian (the Apostle and Evangelist), who ordained him bishop of Pergamum in the Roman province of Asia. In the Book of Revelation, John names Antipas as Christ's "faithful witness, who was slain among you, where Satan's throne is" (Rev. 2:13).

Enraged pagan priests, claiming his preaching was driving the idols and demons out of the city, dragged him to the temple of Artemis and cast him into a heated bronze bull normally used for burning sacrifices to idols. He died in prayer, asking God to strengthen the faith of the Christians of Pergamum.

A church was later built over his burial site, and his relics were reputed to be myrrh-streaming and to grant healing, especially from toothache.

His feast is kept on April 11/24.

IMPORTANT NOTE: a merge with the martyr_antipas entry was previously considered — rejected, since that entry's images turned out to belong to an entirely different saint, Venerable Antipas of Valaam (see the separate entry). This entry's own images are a generic "April" calendar icon (previously duplicated twice, one copy retained) — not an individual portrait of the bishop, but the month matches his April feast.