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Slave of St. Great Martyr Demetrius (October 26), who, standing before his master at the time of his death, soaked his clothes and ring in his blood, and then in Thessaloniki preached the glory of the name of Christ and performed miracles in the name of Demetrius; therefore the emperor ordered his beheading (304 years). Holy Hieromartyrs Pofinus and Irenaeus, Bishops of Lyons Pofinus, disciple of St. Polycarp of Smyrna (February 23), sent by him in 152 to preach about Christ to the Greek settlers in southern Gaul, was the first bishop of Lyons. During a popular uprising against Christians in 177, whom the crowd accused of various crimes and wanted to turn away from the new faith with torture, ninety-year-old Pofin was brought to court on a stretcher; the pagan mob thought that this was Christ. The proconsul asked him: “Who is the Christian God?” Pofinus answered: “You will know if you are worthy.” The people rushed at Him, beat Him and dragged Him on the ground, while others threw whatever they could at Him. Finally, the half-dead sufferer was thrown into prison and died there two days later. After him, forty-eight more Christians suffered various torments. When the persecution subsided, the Christians of Lyon elected Presbyter Irenaeus as bishop, who was saved from death by being sent to Rome with an assignment to Pope Eleutherius before the beginning of the persecution. Known for his five books of denunciations of heretics, the so-called Gnostics. In 202, during the reign of Septimius Severus, he was beheaded along with many other Christians.