Two Christian brothers who, during the persecution under the Persian king Sapor, visited and encouraged imprisoned confessors of Christ. They were arrested and put to severe tortures, dying as martyrs together with their companions.
The Holy Martyrs Jonah and Barachisius of Persia
Jonah and Barachisius were two Christian brothers who were martyred in Persia during the long persecution waged by the Persian king Shapur II (called Sapor in the Greek and Slavonic tradition). They are commemorated on March 28, together with the companions who suffered with them.
According to the synaxarion, when the persecution fell heavily upon the Christians of Persia, the two brothers went to the places where confessors of Christ were held, visiting and encouraging those who were imprisoned for the faith. The tradition relates that a number of these confessors went on to receive the crown of martyrdom, strengthened in part by the brothers' encouragement.
Jonah and Barachisius were themselves arrested and subjected to severe and prolonged tortures, which they endured to the end, dying as martyrs together with their companions. Their account is among the many preserved from the persecution under Shapur II, in which great numbers of Persian Christians gave their lives.
The fuller accounts of the brothers' passion describe tortures of great cruelty. By these accounts Jonah was sawn apart and his body cast piece by piece into a dry cistern, while Barachisius suffered the pouring of boiling pitch into his mouth. The synaxarion presents their endurance as a witness to the strength given to the martyrs in the midst of torment.
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