Martyr
Martyr Martyr Pompius of Africa (Carthage)
сер. III в. (гонение имп. Декия)
Also known as: Помпий (Публий), в составе мчч. Терентия, Помпия, Африкана, Максима и иных (40 мучеников Карфагенских)
Martyr Pompius of Africa — one of the closest companions of Martyr Terentius among the group of forty Carthaginian martyrs who suffered under Emperor Decius at the hands of the governor Fortunatian.
Martyr Pompius (in some sources, Publius) was one of a group of forty Christians in Roman Africa (the Carthage region) who refused to obey Emperor Decius's edict (249–251) requiring universal sacrifice to the pagan gods. The African governor Fortunatian identified Martyr Terentius as the ringleader inspiring the others by his example, and imprisoned him together with his three closest companions — Africanus, Maximus, and Pompius.
Asked how they could worship one crucified as a criminal, Terentius answered that they believed in the Savior, who willingly suffered crucifixion and rose on the third day. The four principal martyrs were subjected to beatings, burning, and exposure to serpents, then chained in prison; by tradition an angel miraculously freed them and gave them sustenance, and at their prayer a pagan temple collapsed.
Fortunatian ultimately ordered the beheading of Terentius, Pompius, Africanus, Maximus, and the rest of the forty (the extended roster also includes Zeno, Alexander, Theodore, and others). Local Christians honorably buried their remains outside the city.