Timolaus and Companions

Timolaus and Companions, according to Eusebius in the Martyrs of Palestine, were young men who, hearing that the Roman authorities at Caesarea in Palestine had condemned in the year 303 a number of Christians to be thrown to wild beasts in the arena, came of their own will before the governor Urban with their hands bound behind their backs and asked to join their brethren in this martyrdom. Timolaus was from Pontus. The others were, according to Eusebius, Dionysius of Tripolis in Phoenicia, Romulus, a subdeacon of the parish of Diospolis, Paesis and Alexander, both Egyptians, and another Alexander of Gaza. The governor, astonished, held them two days in prison and then beheaded them, along with two others.

Those two were Agapius, who had been tortured earlier and was in prison, and another Dionysius, who supplied him with food in prison. All eight were beheaded on the same day. The account is found only in the shorter recension of Eusebius' Martyrs of Palestine; in the longer one Timolaus is not mentioned. The calendars commemorate Timolaus, Romulus, the two Dionysiuses and the two Alexanders on 15 March (new style).