Acepsimas

Saint Acepsimas, hieromartyr and bishop of Naesson (Anis), of Arbela, in Persia, was put to death for Christ in the time of King Shapur II, together with the presbyter Joseph and the deacon Aithalas. They are commemorated on 16 November.

Acepsimas shepherded the Christian Church in the Persian city of Naesson. His flock loved him warmly for his ascetic life and his tireless pastoral work. King Shapur ordered the Christian clergy sought out and put to death, and Bishop Acepsimas, then an old man of eighty, was seized. He was brought to Arbela and stood trial before Ardach, a priest of the sun god. The aged saint refused to sacrifice to the Persian gods. For this he was cruelly beaten and thrown into prison, where, the next day, after terrible tortures, the seventy-⁠year-⁠old presbyter Joseph and the deacon Aithalas were also thrown. For three years they were held in chains, tormented by hunger and thirst.

King Shapur came to the temple of the fire god near Arbela and wished to see the three holy martyrs. Emaciated, covered with festering sores, the saints stood before the king and, at his demands, again firmly refused to worship the pagan gods, confessing faith in Christ. The bishop was beheaded, while the presbyter and the deacon were taken into the city and stoned. The killing of the presbyter Joseph lasted several hours. A guard was set near the place of execution, so that Christians would not take the martyr's body. On the fourth night a great storm passed over the city; lightning killed the guards, the wind scattered the stones, and the body of Saint Joseph vanished. The deacon Aithalas was taken to the village of Patrias and stoned there. Christians buried his body in secret, and on the saint's grave a tree grew whose fruits brought healing.

The holy martyr deacon Aithalas was stoned, by order of the Persian king Shapur II, for confessing the Name of Christ, in the year 380.