Martyr
Martyrs Martyrs Tarachus, Probus, and Andronicus
† 304
Also known as: Пров Аназарвский; с мчч. Тарахом и Андроником
Martyr Probus — together with Martyrs Tarachus and Andronicus, figures of different social standing and ages, tried before several governors of Cilicia, who endured repeated torture in three cities and were thrown to beasts that would not harm them, before all three were beheaded.
IDENTIFICATION: "Probus of Anazarbus" is Probus, a participant in the joint martyrdom with Martyrs Tarachus and Andronicus; the epithet "of Anazarbus" arose because in the mid-5th century Bishop Auxentius of Mopsuestia built a church in their honor and translated part of their relics specifically to Anazarbus, fixing this name, though the main site of the martyrs' trial was Tarsus.
Tarachus was an elderly (68) retired Roman soldier from Claudiopolis in Isauria; Probus was a commoner from Perge (Pamphylia); Andronicus was a young man of a prominent, patrician family from Ephesus. All three were arrested during Emperor Diocletian's persecution and brought before the proconsul Numerianus Maximus. They were tried repeatedly in three cities of Cilicia — Tarsus, Mopsuestia, and Anazarbus — undergoing separate torture sessions; this Life is among the historically most valuable, based on a genuine court-transcript document ("Acts of Tarachus, Probus, and Andronicus").
When commanded to sacrifice to idols, Tarachus declared he offered sacrifice only to the one true God "with a pure heart." Probus, amid torment, said: "When my body suffers, then my soul is healed and made alive." All three endured savage, repeated tortures before different magistrates without recanting. Finally condemned to be thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheater, the animals refused to harm them. All three were then put to death by the sword around 304 AD. Christians secretly recovered and buried their remains.