Tarachus of Anazarbus

Holy Martyr Tarachus of Anazarbus was an aged soldier and suffered in the year 304 at Tarsus in Cilicia, together with the martyrs Probus and Andronicus.

When the pagans asked him to sacrifice to the idols, Tarachus answered that he offered sacrifice to the One True God with a pure heart. Seeing the steadfastness of the saints in confessing the true faith, the proconsul gave them to tortures. "When my body suffers," Probus told the idolaters, "then my soul is healed and revived." The tormentors displayed all the ingenuity of their cruelty, then cut the bodies of the saints into pieces. The Christians secretly took the remains of the martyrs and buried them.

Tarachus is commemorated on 25 October, in the new style.