Story
Lives of the saints and martyrs in the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The martyr Acepsimas.
The Christians of Persia were subjected to a bitter wave of persecution in the reign of Shapur II, in the middle of the fourth century. The secret of the pagans' hatred of the Christians in Persia was this:
1. The Christians' refusal to bow down to the sun, the fire, and the rest of the pagan gods.
2. The love of some Christians for the life of virginity, which diminished the Persian populace.
3. The accusation that they were traitors to the king, since they refused to kill in battle.
4. Their slaughtering of animals of every kind (for there were animals the Persians forbade to be slaughtered), and their burial of the bodies of the dead.
5. Their denial that scorpions, serpents, and beasts of prey were the work of Satan as their creator.
These accusations stirred up the persecution of Shapur against the Christians, who set in his heart their utter extermination.
When his decree was issued, the soldiers seized Acepsimas, bishop of the city of Honita in the land of Assyria. He had reached the eightieth year of his age, and was full of cheerfulness and sweetness; he drew many to himself through his burning zeal, his tender fatherhood, and his prayers, which sometimes grew long, so that he would spend the whole night watering the ground with his tears.
It is said that one of his faithful visited him before his arrest and kissed his head, saying, "What a blessed head, prepared for martyrdom for the sake of the true faith in Christ!"
The bishop embraced him and cried out, "Would that God might grant, O my son, that what He foretold to you be fulfilled, and condescend to bestow on me this happy lot of which you have brought me tidings!" Thus did the bishop long for martyrdom as a divine gift of which he was unworthy!
Saint Acepsimas was led to the city of Arbela, and with him were Joseph the aged priest and Aitala the deacon, a man of sixty years. When the three stood in the presence of the ruler, he began to argue with the bishop, thinking he could persuade him to renounce the faith. At last he threatened them with death if they would not bow down to the sun; and when they refused, he began to torture them and tear their bodies, and finally left them in prison, wounded, in hunger and nakedness, lying upon the dust, until they reposed one after another over the course of three years