Память святых мучеников Ионы и Варахисия

These holy martyrs were from Persia and lived during the reign of the Persian king Sapor 2232 in one village called Yasa. One day, leaving their place of residence, they went to the city of Varavoch and, having found there the holy martyrs Zapiphanes, Lazarus, Marufan, Narsinus, Elijah, Marinus, Aviva, Sivenfin and Savva, who were imprisoned, they began to strengthen them, convincing them to remain firm in the Christian faith and in its confession and not to betray it even if they had to die for it. Therefore, they were captured and brought to three princes: Masdraf, Sirof and Marmisiya - and suffered numerous torments and tortures from them because they did not want to worship the sun, fire and water 2233. At first Saint Jonah was subjected to torment. He was tied in the special way that was customary among the Persians. Usually, the Persians laid the one who needed to be tortured on the ground and tied his arms and legs to one piece of wood, which is why the tied one was motionless, like a stone, and he could be beaten from both sides, since, being tightly tied to the tree, he could not evade the blows. Having bound Saint Jonah in this way, the tormentors beat him for a long time on both sides with thick sticks, then, tying a rope to his body, they began to drag him across the ice of a frozen lake, forcing him to suffer from the cold, and finally, they left him tied up at the place of torment all night. After this, they cut off his fingers and toes, tore off the skin from his head, cut out his tongue and threw him into a cauldron filled with boiling resin. But since the holy martyr came out of the cauldron unharmed, they crushed him in a vice, causing his bones to shatter. After all this, they sawed him in half and threw him into a deep hole, where he died. By order of the princes, Varakhisius was placed under red-hot shackles and then they began to pour molten tin on his eyelids, nostrils, ears and mouth, and finally, tying a rope to his feet, they hanged him in prison. After such tortures, they took off Saint Varachisius’s clothes and, tying him up, began dragging him over thorny plants, then pricked him with sharpened sticks, put him in a spinning wheel, which tore his whole body to pieces, and finally, they poured boiling resin into his mouth, which is why the holy martyr gave up his spirit to God. The bodies of Saints Jonah and Barachisias, together with the bodies of the above-mentioned holy martyrs, were buried by one pious man named Abdisot. The holy martyrs Jonah and Barakhisius died on the 28th, and the others on the 27th day of March 2234. The Persian king Sapor II, known as the Great, reigned from 310 to 331 and was a cruel persecutor of Christians. Honoring the sun as the image of their supreme god Mithra, the Persians also revered fire and water as pure elements that bring good to all living things. The blessed death of the holy martyrs Jonah and Varachisia falls between 327 and 331. You might be interested in: