Porphyrius and Baptus
The Holy Martyrs Porphyrius and Baptus
Martyr · d. c. 202, at Magnesia
Commemorated 10 February — Beheaded with the three women martyrs, converted at the passion of Charalampus
Porphyrius and Baptus were two soldiers of Magnesia who, set to torture the aged hieromartyr Charalampus during the persecution of Septimius Severus about the year 202, were converted by the serene endurance and the wonders of the old man they were tormenting. Confessing Christ openly before the magistrate, they were at once condemned and beheaded, and with them three women of the crowd who had likewise glorified God at the sight. They are commemorated on February 10 within the feast of Charalampus, and the synaxarion of the day keeps their memory in a couplet playing on the name Baptus ("Porphyrius and Baptus, by one common sword, dye a common purple in the dye of their contest").
Nothing is recorded of Porphyrius and Baptus apart from their martyrdom, and that is inseparable from the passion of Charalampus. They belonged to the soldiers or officers detailed to carry out the tortures of the bishop-priest — the flaying with iron hooks and the rest — and it was in the act of tormenting him, watching his aged body bear the unbearable with thanksgiving while wonders multiplied around him, that faith was kindled in them. Ceasing to strike, they confessed themselves Christians. The magistrate, whose fury the saint's endurance had already inflamed, condemned them without delay, and they were put to the sword — beheaded — receiving the martyr's crown in the same hour in which they had first believed. The three women of the onlookers who cried out their faith at the same passion were beheaded with them; the synaxarion notes that "the number three, being odd, betokens the manly courage of the three women." Their names the tradition did not preserve, and they are kept as the anonymous three women martyrs of Magnesia, distinct from the virgin-martyrs Ennatha, Valentina and Paula of Palestine, whom the same day also commemorates.
(Not to be confused with the several other martyrs named Porphyrius on the calendar — Porphyrius of Caesarea, the mime-actor Porphyrius, or the Porphyrius kept with Onesiphorus; this Porphyrius belongs to the passion of Charalampus alone.)
Feast and commemoration
Porphyrius and Baptus, with the three women, are commemorated on February 10 (church date; Old Calendar civil February 23), together with and within the feast of the Hieromartyr Charalampus, in whose passion they were converted. They have no separate office; the synaxarion of Charalampus names them and gives each group its epigrammatic verses. The Slavonic calendars keep them on the same day (civil February 23).
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their courageous contest have won imperishable crowns from thee our God; for possessed of thy might, they cast down the tyrants and broke the powerless boldness of the demons. By their prayers, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Original translation from the Greek