Zenobius of Aegae

Holy Hieromartyr Zenobius of Aegae was a bishop in Cilicia and suffered in the year 285 together with his sister, Saint Zenobia.

The two received the faith from their parents from childhood and led a pure life. In mature years, strangers to the love of money, they distributed to the poor the property they had inherited. For his charity and holy life the Lord granted Zenobius the gift of healing various diseases. He was chosen bishop of a Christian community in Cilicia and zealously spread the Christian faith among the pagans.

When Emperor Diocletian began the persecution, Zenobius was the first seized and brought to the judgment of the governor Lysias. The latter said to him: "I give you life if you worship our gods, death if you do not." The saint answered that this life without Christ is not life but death, and that he would rather endure passing torments for his Creator and then live eternally with Him than renounce Him for a passing life and be tormented eternally in hell. Lysias ordered the bishop nailed to a cross and tortured. His sister, seeing his suffering, wished to share it; she confessed her faith without fear and was handed over to torments too. By the power of the Lord the saints, having survived the torments on a heated bed and in a boiling cauldron, were beheaded. The priest Hermogenes secretly buried the bodies.

Saint Zenobius is commemorated on 12 November, in the new style, together with his sister.