Jonah of Persia

Holy Martyr Jonah of Persia suffered together with his brother Barachisius, in the time of the Persian king Shapur, during a harsh persecution of Christians. The Church remembers them on 10 April (new style), together with the martyrs who suffered with them.

The two brothers were Christians living in the village of Yasy in Persia, in the days of Shapur (310-331), a fierce persecutor. Hearing that Christians were being tortured in the city of Baravokh, they went there and found in prison the martyrs Zanithas, Lazarus, Maruthas, Narses, Elias, Marinus, Abibus, Sivethinus and Sabbas. They urged them to hold fast to the Christian faith to the end.

They were seized in their turn and brought to judgment before the Persian princes Masdraf, Siroph and Marmisius, who tried to force them to worship the sun, fire and water. The brothers plainly confessed their faith in Christ and refused, and for this they were subjected to terrible tortures.

Jonah suffered first. The saint was tied to a tree and beaten for a long time, then dragged over the ice of a frozen lake. His fingers and toes were cut off, then his tongue and the skin of his head, and finally he was sawn in two and his body thrown into a pit.

Barachisius had red-⁠hot shackles put on his hands, molten tin poured into his nose, ears and mouth, and was tormented bound to a turning wheel. He gave his spirit to God after boiling pitch was poured into his mouth. The bodies of the martyrs Jonah and Barachisius and of the others were buried by a pious Christian named Abdisot.