Pompeius of Dyrrhachium

Holy Martyr Pompeius of Dyrrhachium was an Italian by birth and suffered for Christ in the second century, in the time of the emperor Trajan, in the city of Dyrrhachium on the shore of the Adriatic Sea, together with the Holy Martyrs Peregrinus, Lucian, Hesychius, Papias, Saturninus and Germanus.

Being present at the torments of Bishop Astius, crucified by the Romans, they openly glorified the courage and steadfastness of the confessor. For this they were seized and, as confessors of Christ, thrown into the sea to drown. The waves brought their bodies to shore, and the Christians hid them in the sand. After ninety years the martyrs appeared to the bishop of Alexandria and commanded him to bury their bodies and raise a church over them.

St Pompeius is commemorated on 20 July, in the new style.