Saint Arianus was a historically attested governor of Ansena in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

(or in some sources a prefect of the

Thebaid The Thebaid or Thebais (, ''Thēbaïs'') was a region in ancient Egypt, comprising the 13 southernmost nome (Egypt), nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos, Egypt, Abydos to Aswan. Pharaonic history The Thebaid acquired its name from its proximit ...

) and a notable figure in the Diocletianic persecution. He is a recurring character in Coptic

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

, wherein he often attempts to torture

Christian martyr In Christianity, a martyr is a person who was killed for their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In the years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake, or ...

s into worshiping idols, gets frustrated with their resilience and has them beheaded. In these hagiographies he is depicted with a sadistic fondness for torture, employing various methods such as beating,

combing Combing is a method for preparing carding, carded fibre for spinning (textiles), spinning. Combing aligns fibers in parallel before spinning to produce a smoother, stronger, and more lustrous yarn. The process of combing is accompanied by ''gil ...

, nailing, burning, imprisoning, crucifying, and spearing Christians.

Conversion and martyrdom

It is said that, when his own musician Apollonius confessed his Christianity, Arianus ordered him to be shot with arrows. He died, but one of the arrows struck Arianus’ eye and destroyed it. A Christian instructed Arianus to take some of Apollonius’ blood and smear it into his eye. He did so and immediately regained his sight, whereupon he converted to the Christian faith and repented of his severe persecution of Christianity. When

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

heard of it, he questioned Arianus about having forsaken paganism. Arianus told him of the miracles he had seen the martyrs perform, enraging the Emperor who had him tortured and then buried alive in a pit. An angel brought him out of the pit and led him to the Emperor's bed. When Diocletian woke up and recognised Arianus, he was terrified and had him placed in a hair sack then thrown into the sea, where he drowned. He was buried in Ansena alongside Saints Philemon and Apollonius."The Martyrdom of St. Arianus, the Governor of Ansena", St Takla
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arianus Diocletianic Persecution 305 deaths 4th-century Christian martyrs 4th-century Romans Saints from Roman Egypt Egyptian torture victims

Conversion and martyrdom

See also

References