Samuel the Egyptian

Holy Martyr Samuel the Egyptian was one of the five young brothers who accompanied the one hundred and thirty Egyptian Christians condemned to the mines of Cilicia and suffered in the year 309 at Caesarea of Palestine, in the group of St Pamphilus.

On the way back to Egypt, the five young men were stopped at Caesarea and imprisoned for the confession of Christ. Brought before the governor Firmilian, together with Pamphilus, Valens and Paul, imprisoned earlier, they gave the names of the prophets Elias, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel and Daniel, and asked about their homeland they answered that they were citizens of Jerusalem, meaning the heavenly Jerusalem. Firmilian, who knew no such city, wished to learn where it was and to make them renounce; he tormented them long, without success, then gave them to the sword with Pamphilus, Valens and Paul.

Beside them suffered Porphyrius, the young servant of Pamphilus, burned at the stake, Seleucus, a former soldier, put to the sword, the old Theodulus, a secret Christian servant, crucified, and Julian of Cappadocia, burned. The bodies of the twelve martyrs lay four days unburied, untouched by beasts and birds, and the pagans finally allowed the Christians to bury them.

St Samuel is commemorated on 1 March (a movable date), in the new style.