Azes of Isauria

Holy Martyr Azes of Isauria was a soldier who left military life and lived in the wilderness, where he worked many miracles. He suffered in the time of the emperor Diocletian (284 to 305), around the year 289, in Isauria in Asia Minor. Some hunters who had seen him denounced him, and one hundred and fifty soldiers were sent to arrest him.

When they overtook him deep in the wilderness, the soldiers grew thirsty and could find no water anywhere. Azes prayed, and water sprang up before them, and they were refreshed; this wonder led many to believe in Christ and receive holy Baptism. The saint nevertheless urged them to fulfil the commandment of obedience to authority and to bring him before the eparch Aquilinus. There the saint and the soldiers confessed the Christian faith, and the eparch ordered them beheaded. Azes was bound to a wheel with a fire lit beneath it, but the flame went out at once; seeing this, the eparch's wife and daughter believed in Christ and were also put to death by Aquilinus' order.

Saint Azes and the one hundred and fifty soldiers are commemorated on 19 November (new style).