Theoprepius of Potamia

Holy Martyr Theoprepius of Potamia, called also Bogolep, is remembered together with the martyrs Agathonicus, Zoticus, Acindynus, Severian, Zeno and others, who died for Christ in the time of the emperor Maximian (284-305).

The martyr Agathonicus came from a family of noble stock of Hippasius and lived in Nicomedia. Versed in Holy Scripture, he brought many pagans to faith in Christ, among them even the first of the senators, the princeps. The comes Eutolmius, sent to the land of Pontus, crucified at the place called Karpen the disciples of the Christian Zoticus, who would not sacrifice to the idols, and took Zoticus himself with him. In Nicomedia Eutolmius seized the martyrs Agathonicus, together with the princeps, Theoprepius, Acindynus and Severian. After tortures Eutolmius led them to Thrace for the emperor's judgment, but on the road, at a place called Potama, he killed the martyrs Zoticus, Theoprepius and Acindynus, who could no longer walk behind the governor's chariot because of the wounds they had received in the tortures. The martyr Severian was killed at Chalcedon, and Agathonicus, with others, was beheaded with the sword, by the emperor's order, at Selymbria.

The relics of the martyr Agathonicus were seen in the year 1200 at Constantinople, in a church bearing his name, by the Russian pilgrim Anthony. In the fourteenth century Archbishop Philotheus of Selymbria wrote a eulogy for the martyr Agathonicus. The saints are commemorated on 4 September. About Theoprepius in particular the page says nothing beyond his name and the place of his end.