Euphrasius of Corfu

Holy Martyr Euphrasius of Corfu was one of the seven robbers, Saturninus, Jakischolus, Faustianus, Januarius, Marsalius, Euphrasius and Mammius, whom the Holy Apostles Jason and Sosipater brought to Christ in the prison of the island of Corfu and who died as martyrs in the year 63 or a little after.

The Apostle Jason was from Tarsus in Asia Minor and had been the first Christian of the city; the Apostle Sosipater was from Achaia. Both were disciples of the Apostle Paul, who called them his kinsmen (Romans 16:21). Jason was set as bishop in Tarsus, and Sosipater in Iconium. With the preaching of the Gospel they set out westward and in the year 63 reached the island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, near Greece.

There they built a church of the Holy First Martyr Stephen and baptized many. The ruler of the island learned of it and shut them in a prison where seven robbers were held. The apostles brought them to Christ, and the seven, for the confession of Christ, died as martyrs in a cauldron of melted pitch, sulphur and wax.

The prison guard, seeing their struggle, confessed himself a Christian and had his left hand cut off, then both feet and, last, his head. The ruler ordered the apostles Jason and Sosipater whipped and shut up again. The ruler's daughter, the virgin Kerkyra, learning how the martyrs suffered for Christ, confessed herself a Christian and distributed all her ornaments to the poor. Her father, furious, tried to persuade her, but she stood unshaken, and he sent into her prison the robber Murinus to dishonour her.

But a bear attacked him at the prison door; Kerkyra drove off the beast in the name of Christ and healed Murinus' wounds by prayer, then enlightened him with the faith of Christ, and he was put to death at once for his confession. The ruler ordered the prison set on fire, but the virgin remained alive; then she was hung from a tree, suffocated with smoke and pierced with arrows. After her death the ruler resolved to put all the Christians of Corfu to death. Zeno, Eusebius, Neon and Vitalis, enlightened by the apostles, were burned.

The inhabitants crossed to a neighbouring island. The ruler set out with soldiers, but was swallowed by the waves. His successor ordered the apostles thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch, but, seeing them unharmed, cried out with tears: God of Jason and of Sosipater, have mercy on me. The apostles baptized him and gave him the name Sebastian. With his help they built several churches on the island and, living there to deep old age, increased the flock of Christ.

The Synaxarion commemorates Jason, Sosipater and the martyrs on 11 May (new style).