Saint Agathonicus was a 3rd-century citizen of Nicomedia. While living in Greece, he taught the Greeks about Christianity. Meanwhile, the imperial governor began persecuting Christians, following the orders of Emperor Maximian.Pétridès, Sophrone. "Selymbria." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 19 Dec. 2012
/ref> In this persecution, Agathonicus' companion Zoticus was seized in Carpe, and his followers were crucified. He was sent to Nicomedia, where Agathonicus and his companions Princeps, Theoprepius, Acyndinus, Severian, Zeno, along with many others, were then taken to

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...

. On this journey, many of the companions died from exhaustion and abuse, and the others were killed in Chalcedon. The survivors were taken to Thrace in Selymbria, where, after being tortured in front of the Greek Emperor, were beheaded. Their

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is celebrated on November 2 in the Catholic Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church their feast day is August 22.

References

{{Authority control 3rd-century Christian saints Saints from Roman Anatolia