“Learn from my torments,” Arcadius is said to have told spectators as he died. “Your gods are nothing. The only true God is the one for whom I suffer and am about to die. To die for him is to live.
January 12 also marks the feast of three different groups of martyrs, spread across three different continents: Martyrs of Ephesus in 762 AD, in present-day Turkey; the martyrs of Iona in 806 AD, in present-day Scotland; and the Martyrs of Africawhose precise date and location are unknown.
The Ephesus Martyrs numbered between 40 and 50 monks who were persecuted during the reign of another Christian, the Byzantine emperor Constantine V. They were killed for opposing the adherence and enforcement of the rules by the sovereign. heresy of iconoclasm, which opposed the veneration of icons and manifested itself in the destruction of holy images throughout the East.
The Iona Martyrs were more than 60 monks who were killed when Danish pirates attacked the island, burned the monastery and massacred its occupants. This was one of several Viking raids carried out by Norse pagans on the British Isles.
Most details of the African martyrdom honored on January 12 have been lost to history, but the holiday honors approximately 50 soldiers killed for their faith.
Although these martyrdoms occurred over 1,000 years ago, many Christians around the world still face the threat of martyrdom in 2024.
