Dadas of Persia

Holy Martyr Dadas of Persia was the first official of the Persian king Shapur and died for Christ together with Gaveddai and Casdoa, the children of the king. They are commemorated on 12 October.

The king did not know that Dada was a Christian and appointed him governor over a province. When the truth came out, Dada was stripped of all honours, was brought to the judgment of the tormentor Andromelichus and condemned to burning. Approaching the pyre, he made the sign of the Holy Cross, and the pyre went out. Seeing the wonder, Prince Gaveddai believed in Christ and confessed his faith in the hearing of all. The judge told the king, and the king ordered him tormented. In all the torments the power of God protected him; an angel of the Lord comforted him, and the Lord restored to him each time his strength and health. Many in the prison, among them the sorcerer Gargal, saw the healings and became Christians and also received a martyr's death.

His sister Casdoa visited him secretly in prison and brought him water. She saw him once more, when he was being tormented. The saint was hung on a cross and a multitude of arrows was shot at him, but the arrows turned back against those who shot them. Seeing his sister, he urged her to believe in Christ. Saint Casdoa confessed herself a Christian and, by order of her father, King Shapur, was cruelly beaten and thrown into the prison where her brother was. Suffering from wounds, she asked her martyr brother to pray for her, and he, after praying, assured her that she would not be tormented again. The next day, at new torments, Gaveddai saw in the crowd two priests, Dadius and Abdius, and asked them to bring him oil and water, for he wished to receive Holy Baptism. Then a cloud overshadowed him, water and oil poured upon him from it, and a voice was heard: servant of God, you have already received Baptism. His face became bright, and a sweet fragrance spread in the air. The tormentor ordered him pierced with spears and, after some hours, he died with prayer on his lips. His body was cut in three parts, but the priests Dadius and Abdius and the deacon Armazat took the holy remains and buried them with honour. The body of Saint Dada, tormented also for a long time and cut alive into pieces, was buried likewise in secret by Christians.

At midnight the martyr Gaveddai appeared to the priest Dadius and gave him a vessel with oil, sending him to the martyr Casdoa to anoint her and to commune her with the Holy Mysteries. The priest did so, saying to her at the end: sleep, my sister, until the coming of the Lord, and Saint Casdoa departed to the Lord. Her mother prepared her for burial and buried her beside the martyr Gaveddai.