Africanus, Pompeius and Terence
The Holy Martyrs Africanus, Pompeius (Publius) and Terence, and their Companions
Martyr · d. 3rd century, at Petrium in Africa
Commemorated 13 March — Martyrdom at Petrium, 10 April — The larger company of the African martyrs (Terence, Africanus, Maximus, Pompeius and others)
Africanus, Pompeius (also called Publius) and Terence, with a company of fellow-Christians, were martyrs of Africa who suffered in the third century at a place called Petrium, near Carthage, in one of the persecutions that swept the Roman province. Seized for their confession of Christ and refusing to sacrifice to the idols, they endured torments and were put to death together. The Church keeps their memory on March 13; a larger company of the same African martyrs, including Terence and Africanus with many others, is commemorated again on April 10.
The three named martyrs — Africanus, Pompeius (whose name the Slavic notices give as Publius), and Terence (Terentius) — belong to the martyrs of Roman Africa, the province of Carthage that in the third century gave the Church a great multitude of confessors under the persecutions of Decius and Valerian. The synaxarion sets their contest at a place named Petrium, and remembers them as members of a company of Christians who were arrested together for the faith.
Brought before the persecuting authority and commanded to sacrifice to the gods, they confessed Christ and refused. They were subjected to torture — the notices speak of their being cruelly handled to force their apostasy — and, standing firm to the end, were put to death, receiving the martyrs' crown. The manner of their death is given variously in the sources (beheading, or being cast to death) and the roll of their companions is not uniformly transmitted; what is constant is the company of African confessors crowned together at Petrium, whom the Church honours on this day.
Feast and commemoration
The martyrs are commemorated on March 13 (church date; Old Calendar civil March 26), together with the translation of the relics of Nicephorus of Constantinople and the other martyrs of the day. The same African martyrs — Terence, Africanus, Maximus, Pompeius and their companions — are commemorated again on April 10, a larger company gathered under the same persecution; the two days honour the one body of Carthaginian martyrs. Because March 13 falls within the Great Fast, its commemoration is generally kept on a weekday of Lent, when the full Liturgy is not served and no fixed Epistle and Gospel are appointed; the martyrs' office is joined to the Lenten order.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy holy martyrs Africanus, Pompeius and Terence, O Lord, through their contests have received incorruptible crowns from thee our God; for having thy strength, they laid low their persecutors and shattered the powerless boldness of the demons. By their intercessions save our souls.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
The martyrs are depicted as a group of confessors — men of varying age in the tunics and cloaks of laymen, each holding the cross of martyrdom — in the settled type of a martyr-company. No securely identified early image of them has been found for storage here; the commemoration wants an icon.
Disputed questions
- The names and the roll. The middle martyr is given as Pompeius in the Greek notices and as Publius in the Slavic; the two are one person under a variant of the name. The number and names of the companions vary between the March 13 and April 10 commemorations and among the manuscripts, and are not asserted here as a fixed roll.
- Not to be confused, on this same day, with the hieromartyr Publius, Bishop of Athens — the "Publius" of this African company is the martyr also called Pompeius, not the Athenian bishop; nor with the ascetic Publius of Zeugma (January 25). The Terence of this company is likewise distinct from Terence, Neonilla and their children (October 28).