Today the Church honors St. Paphnutius and his 546 Companions in Egypt, Martyrs.
Orate pro nobis.
St. Paphnutius (not the same Paphnutius honored on 11 September) was a famed hermit living in the desert around Dendara, Egypt. During the persecution against Christians under Diocletian (AD 303-313), the governor Arianus was eager to follow the imperial order to root out Christians, initially from the military or public office, but later all Christians. Upon hearing of the famous hermit, Arianus commanded that Saint Paphnutius be brought to him.
The ascetic, being told by an angel the night before that soldiers were coming the next day to arrest him, did not wait for those soldiers sent to bring him. Instead, he appeared before the governor willingly, confessed his faith in Christ, and was then subjected to torture. He was hung on the local pagan temple and subjected to terrible tortures.
The soldiers involved in his torture, Dionysius and Callimachus, seeing how the power of God preserved the martyr, believed in Christ the Savior themselves, for which they were then beheaded. Cast into prison after the tortures failed to kill him, Saint Paphnutius was soon joined by forty prisoners, all men in public office convicted of withholding collected taxes from the local government. Within a few days, after his preaching the Gospel of Jesus to them, all forty of them embraced the Faith. When Arianus called them each to trial, they all professed the Faith, and would not be deterred. Enraged, Arianus had them all burned alive.
After a while, Saint Paphnutius was set free, and a Christian named Nestorius gladly took him in. He and all his family, after spiritual guidance, became steadfast in the Faith after coming to fear for their lives and considering offering sacrifice to idols to preserve their lives. They ultimately endured martyrdom.
The famous saint strengthened many other local Christians to not fear the pains of torture but to be strong in the crucified and resurrected Savor Jesus, and to confess our Lord Jesus Christ before the governor, and many died as martyrs. Some were cut with swords, others were burned. There were ultimately 546 martyrs in Dendara in all.
Saint Paphnutius himself was once again brought before the governor, who ordered that he be thrown by the torturers into a river with a stone about his neck, but he miraculously floated to shore with the stone. Finally, Arianus sent the holy martyr and the records of his trial, tortures, his preaching to and strengthening the Christians of Dendara, and how many had been martyred because of this hermit, to the emperor Diocletian himself, who commanded him to be crucified on a date palm tree in the year AD 303.
Almighty God, who gave to your servant Paphnutius and his Companions boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
