Hieromartyrs Nerses Joseph, and those with them of Persia
Martyred 343
Also known as Nerses · Joseph · John · Saverius · Isaac · Azades · Thekla · Anna
Bishop Nerses, his disciple Joseph, other bishops, clergy, and lay Christians executed under Shapur II, who refused apostasy during the Persian persecution.
The Holy Hieromartyrs Nerses and Joseph and those with them, who suffered in Persia
Life
The Hieromartyrs Nerses, Joseph, and those with them were a group of bishops, clergy, and lay Christians executed in Persia in 343 during the persecution of the Sasanian emperor Shapur II (Sapor II). Bishop Nerses and his disciple Joseph are named at the head of the commemoration, together with several other bishops and martyrs, both men and women, who refused to apostatize from Christ.
Their martyrdom fell within the earliest wave of the sustained persecution of Christians under Shapur II, remembered in the Syriac and Byzantine traditions as a great cycle of martyrs. The named and unnamed members of the group are kept together in a single commemoration, observed on November 20.
Timeline2 momentsReadHide
309–379Reign of Shapur IIShapur II rules the Sasanian Empire. After the conversion of Constantine the Great, he comes to regard Persian Christians as potential agents of Rome and imposes a double tax on them to finance his wars against the Roman Empire, opening a sustained persecution.
343Martyrdom of Nerses and his companionsBishop Nerses and his disciple Joseph, together with Bishops John, Saverius, Isaac, and Hypatius, the eunuch Azades, and the martyrs Savonius, Thekla, Anna, and many other men and women, are put to death for refusing apostasy. By the recorded accounts Nerses and Joseph were beheaded; John, Isaac, and Hypatius were stoned; Saverius died in prison and was afterward beheaded; and Azades was strangled by an apostate presbyter.
Contributions & Legacy
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Historical Context
The persecution under Shapur II is traced to the changed political situation following the conversion of Constantine the Great. Viewing Persian Christians as potential agents of the Roman Empire, Shapur II imposed a double tax on them to help finance his wars against Rome. When the Patriarch Shemon Bar Sabbae refused to enforce or pay it, a sustained persecution — remembered as a cycle of martyrs — began and continued through much of the emperor's reign.
The 5th-century historian Sozomen recorded in his Ecclesiastical History that the number of men and women martyred in this period whose names could be ascertained was reckoned at upwards of sixteen thousand, while the multitude of martyrs whose names were unknown was so great that the Persians, Syrians, and inhabitants of Edessa failed in all their efforts to count them. Other named episcopal victims of the same persecution include Barbasceminus, bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, executed with sixteen of his clergy in 346. The martyrdom of Nerses and his companions in 343 falls within the earliest wave of this persecution.
The Martyrs
The commemoration gathers bishops, clergy, and laity of both sexes. Bishop Nerses and his disciple Joseph head the group and were beheaded. The bishops John, Isaac, and Hypatius were stoned to death, and Bishop Saverius (Saverius) died in prison, his head cut off after his death. The eunuch Azades was strangled by an apostate presbyter. Also named among the martyrs are Savonius, Thekla, and Anna, alongside many other men and women whose names are not individually recorded but who together underwent torture and death for Christ.
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