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Martyr4th century

Martyr Pappias

Early 4th century (died during the Diocletianic persecution, 303–313)

Also known as Pappias

A Christian who, refusing to sacrifice to idols in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, was martyred for Christ.

June 28New Calendar
Feast Day
July 11Old Calendar
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Life

Pappias was an early-fourth-century Christian martyr commemorated in the Orthodox Church on June 28. According to the synaxarion, he was arrested during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperors Diocletian and Maximian and, refusing to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, was put to death for his confession of Christ.

Little else is recorded of him. The surviving notice preserves no account of his birthplace, his manner of death, or the events of his life beyond his refusal to apostatize, and the standard reference sources give him no independent biographical entry. He survives essentially as a name in the calendar of martyrs of his period.

Kontakion & Troparion2 hymnsReadHide
KontakionTone 2

(Podoben: “You sought the heights...”) You appeared as a bright star announcing Christ with your radiance,
which is repulsive to this world, O Martyr Pappias;
extinguishing the allure of false gods,
you enlighten the faithful,
always interceding for us all.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

TroparionTone 3

Your holy martyr Pappias, O Lord,
through his sufferings has received an incorruptible crown from You, our God.
For having Your strength, he laid low his adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through his intercessions, save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline2 momentsReadHide
  1. 303–313Diocletianic persecutionThe persecution of Christians under Diocletian and Maximian, during which Christians who refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods were subject to execution.
  2. Early 4th centuryMartyrdom of PappiasArrested in this persecution and refusing to sacrifice to the idols, Pappias was martyred for his confession of Christ.

Contributions & Legacy

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Historical Context

Pappias suffered during the Diocletianic persecution, the last and most severe of the Roman persecutions of Christianity, which ran from 303 to 313. Beginning under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, it unfolded through a series of edicts that escalated from the destruction of churches and scriptures and the arrest of clergy to a final requirement, issued in 304, that all persons offer sacrifice to the gods.

Those who refused this demand of sacrifice faced execution and torture, and the persecution was enforced most intensely in the eastern provinces of the empire. The synaxarion's account of Pappias — a Christian pressed to sacrifice to the idols and killed when he would not deny Christ — places him squarely within this pattern, though it preserves no specifics of his trial or death.

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints