Acindynus of Persia

Saint Acindynus, martyr, was a young Christian of Persia, put to the sword for Christ together with 340 other Persian nobles and soldiers, in the time of King Shapur, around the year 330. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 2 November by the old calendar, which is 15 November by the new, together with the holy martyrs Pegasius, Anempodistus, Aphthonius and Elpidephorus.

King Shapur persecuted the Christians with cruelty. He imprisoned the bold young men Acindynus, Pegasius and Anempodistus and ordered them to be tortured. Their courageous witness to the faith of Christ turned their tormentor, Aphthonius, to the faith, and he believed in Christ and began to glorify Him aloud, as did four soldiers. All the new believers died by the sword.

The nobleman Elpidephorus, outraged at the king's cruelty, reproached him for the blood of innocent Christians. The king then ordered that he too be killed by the sword, together with other nobles and three hundred soldiers who had turned to the faith of Christ. In all the martyrs numbered three hundred and forty-⁠one.

The details are those preserved by tradition, and the number and the year cannot be checked against sure historical sources.