Aquila of Trebizond

Saint Aquila of Trebizond suffered for Christ together with the holy martyrs Eugenius, Candidus and Valerian, in the time of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian (284 to 305), at the hands of the commander Lysias. They are commemorated on 3 February.

In the time of the persecution Valerian, Candidus and Aquila hid in the mountains of Granezonda, preferring life among wild beasts to life among pagans. But even there they were soon found and brought to Trebizond. For their bold and firm confession of the faith of Christ, the holy martyrs were beaten with oxhide thongs, scraped with iron, their wounds sprinkled with salt and burned with fire. After a few days Eugenius was seized too and put to the same torments. After the tortures, the four martyrs were thrown into a heated furnace; when they came out of it unharmed, their heads were cut off. The saints received the end of martyrdom at the end of the third century.