Agathopus of Thessaloniki

Saint Agathopus, martyr, was a deacon in Thessaloniki and died a martyr by drowning, between 303 and 305, in the time of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, together with the reader Theodulus. He is commemorated on 4 or 5 April.

He was born in the third century in the city of Thessaloniki, then in the Roman Empire. He was a deacon. He suffered in his old age, in the persecution of Maximian. By command of the emperor, Faustinus, the governor of Thessaloniki, ordered that Christians be arrested and forced to renounce their faith.

Agathopus was arrested for his faith together with Theodulus, the reader, and they were asked to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. After they refused several times, Faustinus ordered them to be drowned in the sea. They were proclaimed martyrs, and their memory is kept on the same day.