Amphilochius of Illyria

Holy Martyr Amphilochius of Illyria was a military commander in the time of Emperor Hadrian (117 to 138), who came to believe in Christ through the sufferings of the martyrs Philetus, Lydia and those with them. He is commemorated on 5 April.

Saint Philetus was a prominent official at the court of the persecuting emperor Hadrian. For his open confession of faith in Christ Philetus, with his wife, Saint Lydia, and their sons, Saints Macedon and Theoprepius, was brought to trial. By Hadrian's order Philetus and his family were sent to Illyria to the commander Amphilochius, so that he might put them to torment. He ordered them to be hung from a tree and their bodies scraped with knives. Then the martyrs were shut in prison, together with Cronides, the chief of the prisons, who had come to believe. At night an angel appeared to them and strengthened them for suffering. The next day the martyrs were plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil, but the oil cooled at once and the saints remained unharmed. The commander Amphilochius was so amazed by this wonder that he believed in Christ and himself entered the boiling oil, praying: "Lord Jesus Christ, help me", and remained alive. The same torment was repeated when Emperor Hadrian came to Illyria: the holy martyrs were thrown again and again into the boiling oil and, by the power of God, remained alive. The emperor, put to shame, returned to Rome, and the holy martyrs gave thanks and glorified God and, in prayer, gave Him their holy souls, in the time of Hadrian.