Therapon of Sardis

Holy Hieromartyr Therapon of Sardis, a bishop, suffered for Christ in the third century. He is commemorated on 27 May.

Fulfilling his archpastoral ministry, he enlightened and baptized many pagan Greeks, and for this was brought before the governor Julian, before whom he fearlessly declared himself a Christian bishop. They threw him into prison, where he remained in hunger and thirst, then gave him over to harsh tortures, but these did not shake his valiant confession. They led him in chains to Sinaion in Phrygia, then to Ancyra, where they tortured him again. They took him to the river Astala, stretched him naked on the ground, fastened to four stakes, and beat him fiercely. After this torture they took him to the outskirts of the Satalia diocese, part of the Sardis metropolis, and there, after long beatings, Saint Therapon ended his martyric contest (according to Doxologia, he was stabbed).

The stakes to which he had been tied, soaked in his blood, put forth green shoots and grew into great trees, whose leaves proved to have healing power; many people were healed through them.