Porphyrius of Ephesus

Holy Martyr Porphyrius of Ephesus was an actor and died as a martyr in the year 361, in the time of the emperor Julian the Apostate. He is honoured by the Orthodox Church (commemoration on 15 September by the old calendar) and by the Catholic Church (on 4 November). In the time of the emperor Julian the Apostate, from childhood he was an actor in Ephesus. In the theatre he often had to take part in plays in which Christian rites were shown with mockery.

There are two traditions about the circumstances of his baptism and martyrdom. According to one, Porphyrius had a daughter, whom he lost through a sudden death. The loss struck him to the heart. He left the stage and began to wander brokenhearted. He found consolation in the Christian faith, received baptism and boldly condemned paganism. Refusing to bow to idols at the order of the local governor, Porphyrius was put to death.

According to the other tradition, the actor Porphyrius, on the birthday of the emperor Julian the Apostate, played a role in the theatre in which he was to mock the sacrament of holy Baptism. But when Porphyrius, in the course of the play, plunged into the water and said that the servant of God Porphyrius is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, under the power of God's grace received through these words, coming out of the water he openly confessed himself a Christian. Julian at once ordered him tortured and, after tortures, put to death.