Historical Setting
The martyrs belong to the earliest, pre-Nicene period of Christian witness. The sources place their suffering in Tripoli, a city of Roman Phoenicia on the Syrian coast, during the reign of the emperor Vespasian (70-79), which sets the account in the 1st century.
The persecution is attributed to a provincial governor named Adrian, who held authority to seek out and suppress Christians. It was a report that Leontius had drawn many of the people away from the worship of the pagan gods that drew the governor's attention to him.
The Soldiers' Conversion
The central episode of the account is the conversion of the very men sent to make the arrest. According to the tradition, the tribune Hypatius fell gravely ill on the road to Phoenicia and was instructed in a dream by an angel that he would be healed if he and his soldiers called three times upon the God of Leontius; his immediate recovery moved Theodulus and others toward faith.
On arriving at Tripoli the soldiers were received as guests by a stranger who turned out to be Leontius himself. Recognizing their host, they asked to be brought to faith in the true God and were baptized. The synaxarion relates that as Leontius prayed over them, invoking the name of the Holy Trinity, a luminous cloud overshadowed the newly baptized and poured forth rain.
Martyrdom and Burial
Brought before the governor, the three steadfastly confessed Christ. Hypatius was placed beneath a column and torn with iron claws, and Theodulus was beaten with rods; seeing their firmness, the persecutors beheaded both.
Leontius was first imprisoned and then, the following day, offered honors and rewards to renounce his faith. When he refused, he was suspended head-downward from a pillar with a heavy stone about his neck and at last beaten with rods until he died. Christians reverently buried his body near Tripoli, and the account relates that the court records of the trial, inscribed on tin tablets, were placed at his grave.
