Melasippus of Ancyra

Holy Martyr Melasippus of Ancyra suffered in the year 363, in the time of the emperor Julian the Apostate, in the city of Ancyra in Phrygia, together with his wife Cassinia and their son, the boy Antoninus.

Melasippus and Cassinia were torn with iron hooks and tortured, and died under the torments. Antoninus, a child, had been forced by the persecutor to watch his parents suffer. He spat in the face of the emperor who had fallen away from God, and for this he was put to very harsh torments, in which he remained unharmed, and then he was beheaded. Forty young men who saw how the Lord protected his confessor Antoninus and how the torments did him no harm believed in Christ, openly confessed their faith and received a martyr's end.

Melasippus is commemorated on 20 November, in the new style, with Cassinia and Antoninus.