One of the torturers stops, looks at the people he is hurting and goes to stand beside them. According to tradition, that is how Aftonius became a Christian. Today, 2 November, is the name day of Akindynos, Pigasius and everyone with related names.
Secret Christians at the court of Shapur
Their story is set in Persia under King Shapur II in the 4th century. Akindynos, Pigasius and Anempodistus served at court, close to the king, and kept their faith secret.
When Shapur began to persecute Christians, they could no longer hide it. The three men refused to renounce Christ and were tortured.
Tradition, as recorded in the lives of the saints and the synaxaria, says they were tortured and thrown into a fire. Aftonius saw up close how patiently they bore the pain and what miracles happened around them. It turned him to Christ, and he paid for his new faith with his head.
Elpidephorus, a noble courtier who also sided with the Christians, was beheaded too.
Pigasius or Pegasius: one name, several spellings
The accounts differ in their details of how the martyrs died. They place the events broadly in the 4th century, during the persecution under Shapur II. The names are also spelled in different ways: Pigasius and Pegasius, Elpidephorus and Elpidophorus, Aftonius, Avtonius and Affonius. As a result, the same name can sometimes look like two different ones in church calendars.
Akindynos, Pigasius and Anempodistus had much to lose: a place at court and closeness to the king himself. Even so, they said openly what they believed and did not back down, even in the face of fire.
The memory of the martyrs has travelled far from Persia. Every year on 2 November the Church names them together, all five in a row.
Happy name day to Akindynos and Pigasius, and to everyone who bears the names of the five martyrs!