Sionius of Adrianople

Holy Hieromartyr Sionius of Adrianople was a priest and received the crown of martyrdom in the time of Emperor Leo the Armenian, in the persecution of the Bulgarian ruler, together with bishops and priests of Adrianople.

The martyrs came from various regions of the Roman Empire and lived at Adrianople. At that time the Bulgarian king Krum devastated Thrace and Macedonia, reached Constantinople itself, then, after a three-⁠month siege, took Adrianople and made prisoner all the inhabitants who had escaped the slaughter, up to forty thousand, among them the bishop, whom the pagan ordered thrown headlong and trampled underfoot. Krum perished by an evil death, his successor Dukum died soon after, and over the Bulgarians came Dicineg, a harsh and inhuman ruler, who ordered Bishop Manuel of Adrianople to be sawn in two and his arms cut off to the shoulders, and the holy remains to be given to the dogs. The wrath of God struck him with blindness, and his subjects killed him. His successor, Murtagon, cruelly persecuted the Christians who would not obey the order to renounce Christ; he held them in prison, tortured them and killed them with merciless torments. Bishops George of Develt and Peter, who strengthened their flock in the faith, he had beaten cruelly with sticks and then beheaded; seven Christians suffered the same death with them. The Christian commanders John and Leontius were put to the sword; the pagans pierced the belly of Leontius, the eunuch bishop of Nicaea, with a sword; Gabriel and Sionius received the martyr's death by the sword; and Parodus, a most devout priest, was stoned. Many other servants of Christ were beaten and cast into prison, and not only Murtagon but his successors on the Bulgarian throne cruelly persecuted the Christians, who through various torments and painful death won the eternal kingdom.

The saint is commemorated on 4 February, in the new style, in the account of Saint Demetrius of Rostov.