Serapion the Egyptian of Galatia

Holy Hieromartyr Serapion the Egyptian of Galatia was a bishop and martyr, born in Egypt, and the Church remembers him together with Saint Meletius the Commander and his soldiers, who suffered for Christ in Galatia.

In the reign of the Roman emperor Antoninus Elagabalus (218-222), Meletius was military commander of the region of Galatia. A Christian, he prayed earnestly that the Lord would put an end to pagan error. According to tradition, the demons dwelling in the idol temples entered dogs, whose howling spread fear among the people. Meletius and his soldiers destroyed the dogs and pulled down the temples, and he was seized and brought before the governor Maximian. Because he refused to sacrifice to the idols he was tortured and died still confessing Christ. The tribunes of his regiment, the martyrs Stephen and John, were beheaded for their confession.

The other soldiers of the regiment also declared themselves Christians and were put to the sword with their wives and children; by some accounts 1,218 people perished, by others 11,000. The martyrs Theodore and Faustus, with many others, were burned. Among the women and children the names of the holy martyrs Marciana, Sosanna and Palladia and of the infants Cyriacus and Christian are known. The names of the twelve tribunes are also preserved: Faustus, Fistus, Marcellus, Theodore, Meletius, Sergius, Marcellinus, Felix, Photinus, Theodoriscus, Mercurius and Didymus.

Serapion was born in Egypt and came to Galatia, where he witnessed the struggle of Meletius and his troops. Seeing how bravely believers died for Christ, he came to believe himself and for this was imprisoned. In the prison an angel of the Lord appeared to him and ordained him a bishop. The saint is commemorated on 6 June, in the new style, together with Meletius and his companions.