Ananias of Seleucia

Holy Hieromartyr Ananias of Seleucia, a priest, suffered in the year 344 in Persia, together with Saint Simeon, bishop of Seleucia-⁠Ctesiphon, the priest Abdelas and many others, in the persecution of the Persian king Shapur II (310 to 381). He is commemorated on 30 April.

Saint Simeon was unjustly accused of ties with the Greek state and of hostile acts against the Persian king. In 344 the king issued a decree by which Christians were put under a heavy tax. When some refused to pay it, a thing presented as rebellion, the king began a savage persecution. Saint Simeon was brought to trial in iron chains with two priests, Abdelas and Ananias. The holy bishop did not even bow before the king, and when asked why, he answered: "Before I bowed to your rank, but now, when I am brought to deny my God and my faith, it is not fitting that I bow." The king tried to persuade him to worship the sun, threatening that otherwise he would destroy Christianity in the land, but neither persuasion nor threats shook the courageous hierarch, and he was led to prison.

On the way the eunuch Usthazanes, once the king's tutor, saw him; he rose and bowed to the bishop, but the saint turned away from him and rebuked him that, being a Christian, he had bowed to the sun for fear of the king. The eunuch repented with all his heart, changed his costly clothes for rough ones and, sitting at the palace door, wept bitterly. The king learned of the grief of his beloved tutor, and he told him openly that he repented of his denial and would no more worship the sun, but only the true God. The king tried to persuade him gently, but Usthazanes remained firm and was condemned to death. His only request was that the heralds announce through the whole city that he was dying not for a crime against the king, but as a Christian; the king granted it. Learning of his death, Saint Simeon thanked the Lord with tears. Summoned a second time to the king, he refused again to bow to the gods and confessed his faith in Christ. The king, in anger, ordered all the Christians in the prison beheaded before his eyes. They went without fear to death, blessed by the saint, and themselves bowed their heads under the sword. So the companion of Saint Simeon, the priest Abdelas, was beheaded. When the turn came to the priest Ananias, he began to tremble. Then one of the councillors, Saint Phusik, a secret Christian, feared that Ananias would deny Christ and cried out: "Do not be afraid, old man, close your eyes and you will at once see the Divine Light of our Lord Jesus Christ." By this cry he gave himself away: the king ordered his tongue torn out and his skin flayed, and with him his daughter, the martyr Askitrea, was tortured. The last to go to the executioner was Saint Simeon, who with prayer bowed his head on the block, on 13 April 344. All through Bright Week, until 23 April, the executions continued. Azat, a eunuch and a dignitary close to the king, also received martyrdom. The sources say that a thousand martyrs suffered, then another hundred and another hundred and fifty.