Synaxarion of the Holy Martyr Thespesios of Cappadocia

St. Thespesios the Martyr (Feast Day - June 1)

Verses

Truly wondrous by his deeds,
Thespesios showed himself as a martyr by the sword.

He contested during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus in the year 222 and was from Cappadocia. For his confession of Christ he was arrested by Simblikios, the ruler of Cappadocia, and brought to the temple of the idols to sacrifice to them. Because he could not be persuaded to do so, or rather because he mocked the idols, for this reason he was suspended, and they skinned off his flesh. They then put him in a heated oven, from which he was preserved unharmed by the grace of Christ.

Later he was brought once more to the temple of the idols, where the Greeks would offer their sacrifices, and as he approached near the altar, he overturned it. For this he was immediately placed in a heated cooking pot full of oil and pitch and lard. Having remained within this for two days, he came out unharmed, without being burned in any part of his body. Because of this miracle, many Greeks converted to the faith of Christ. Finally, they took him outside the city and beheaded him, and in this way his blessed soul ascended crowned into the heavens.