Ponticus of Lyon

Holy Martyr Ponticus of Lyon was a boy of fifteen and died in 177 in the persecution at Lyon (Lugdunum), in Gaul, beside the Holy Martyr Blandina.

The martyrdom of forty-⁠three Christians at Lyon took place in the year 177. In the same year the Churches of Lyon and Vienne wrote a letter to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia about the courage and steadfast confession of the Christians of Gaul; it is the first written witness to Christianity on the territory of present-⁠day France. The letter, preserved in the version of Eusebius of Caesarea, is attributed to St Irenaeus, the successor of St Pothinus on the see of Lyon, and is the main source for these martyrs.

The letter tells that in the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius the pagans did not let Christians into houses, baths or the market, and the mob beat them in the streets. The Christians were taken to the square, questioned before the people, confessed their faith and were shut in prison until the arrival of the governor, who treated them cruelly. Some were ready for martyrdom, others feared it. Among those who feared were false witnesses, who stirred up the anger of the crowd. Tortured most were the deacon Sanctus of Vienne, Maturus, a recent convert, Attalus of Pergamon, and the young slave girl Blandina. Their unshaken confession left their tormentors powerless.

Bishop Pothinus of Lyon, a disciple of St Polycarp of Smyrna, an old man of over ninety, weak in body but strong in zeal, came forward on his own to the judge. The crowd beat him and pelted him with stones; he was thrown into prison barely breathing and gave up his spirit after two days. The confessors were thrown to the beasts in the amphitheatre. Maturus and Sanctus went through the whole round of torments: scourging, beasts, roasting on an iron chair and the sword; Blandina, hung on a post, was not touched by the beasts and was brought back to prison.

Ponticus, a boy of fifteen, was tempted and tortured together with Blandina and gave up his soul after enduring every trial. St Blandina, the last of all, died after suffering more than the others: she was scourged, left to the beasts, put on a heated grill and, finally, enclosed in a wicker basket and thrown to a bull.

The pagans mocked even the dead bodies. Those suffocated in prison they threw to the dogs, and the remains of the others, burned and torn, lay for days unburied, carefully guarded; after six days they were burned and the ashes scattered in the river Rhone, so that no trace of them would remain and there would be no hope of resurrection. The martyrs of Lyon did not call themselves martyrs and forbade others to do so, saying that the true martyrs are Christ and those before them, and that they were only poor confessors. They prayed for their tormentors, like the first martyr Stephen, and for those who had denied the faith, that these might receive faith and life in Christ.

St Ponticus is commemorated on 15 June, in the new style.