Saint Colluthus is a Coptic saint and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

of the 3rd century AD said to be from Antinoöpolis. According to his Hagiography, Colluthus' father was the governor of the

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

ian city of Ansena. His parents were both

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

. He lived a celibate, although his sister was married to Arianus, who became Ansena's governor after the departure of Colluthus' father. Colluthus was a physician who did not charge money for his services. When Roman emperor Diocletian began his persecutions of Christians, Arianus apostatized in order to keep his position as a governor. When Colluthus rebuked Arianus for persecuting the Christians, Arianus sent him to the governor of Oxyrhynchus who threw him in prison for three years. Colluthus' sister unsuccessfully mediated for his release. After three years, a different governor of Oxyrhynchus took Colluthus out of prison, tortured him, and eventually cut his head off on 25 Pashons. The emperor Galerius ended the

Diocletianic Persecution The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rig ...

with the

Edict of Serdica The Edict of Serdica, also called Edict of Toleration by Galerius, was issued in 311 in Serdica (now Sofia, Bulgaria) by Roman Emperor Galerius. It officially ended the Diocletianic Persecution of Christianity in the Eastern Roman Empire. The E ...

in 311. After

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

was declared one of the Empire's legal religions by the emperor

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

, a church was built for Saint Colluthus, where his relics were placed.

Sources

Coptic Synexarion
Saints from Roman Egypt 3rd-century deaths 3rd-century Christian martyrs Year of birth unknown Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian {{saint-stub