Origins and Mission at Halmyris
The sources place the origin of both saints in Bithynia, on the southwest coast of the Black Sea (some accounts describe them more broadly as coming from Asia Minor). Epictetus had given himself to God from his youth and was ordained a priest, becoming known for healing the sick and converting many to the faith. Astion was an illustrious young man who, after meeting Epictetus and embracing Christianity, took up an ascetical, monastic way of life under his guidance.
The pair traveled by ship to Scythia and settled near the Roman outpost of Halmyris. By one account they arrived in 273, when Epictetus was about forty-seven and Astion only eighteen, and spent some seventeen years there in prayer, fasting, and preaching before their martyrdom. Their reputation rested on the wonders attributed to them: the healing of a deaf-mute boy, after which a large number of the local people are said to have embraced Christianity, and the curing of a man whose legs and toes had been crushed.
Arrest and Martyrdom
Around the year 290 the military commander Latronianus came to the district and, after pagan priests complained against the two Christians, had them arrested. The accounts describe severe tortures—their bodies torn with iron claws, rubbed with salt and vinegar, and a casting into boiling pitch—and a long imprisonment said to have lasted thirty days without food or water, during which they remained steadfast in confessing Christ.
Brought once more before Latronianus and refusing to renounce their faith, Epictetus and Astion were sentenced to be beheaded. They received the crown of martyrdom on July 8, 290, the date on which they are commemorated. By tradition a converted local named Vigilantius, who had been baptized by the saints, helped recover and bury their bodies.
Relics & Shrines
Tradition holds that the saints' relics were later transferred into a basilica at Halmyris associated with the fourth-century Christian building program of the era of Constantine the Great.
In 2001 archaeologists excavating at Halmyris discovered relics identified as those of Epictetus and Astion. Anthropological examination of the bones indicated two men, one roughly sixty-four and the other in his thirties, with evidence consistent with death by beheading—findings the accounts note as agreeing with the ages and manner of death recorded in their written passion.
Miracles & Traditions
Historically Documented: Archaeological excavation at Halmyris in 2001 recovered skeletal remains identified with the two martyrs; anthropological analysis reported ages of approximately sixty-four and about thirty-five, with marks consistent with beheading, matching the details preserved in their passion.
Traditional Accounts: The saints' passion relates that Epictetus healed a deaf-mute boy and that Astion cured a man whose legs and toes had been crushed, and that great numbers of the local pagan population were brought to Christianity through these wonders and the saints' preaching; their accounts also describe exorcisms and the conversion and baptism of a local figure named Vigilantius.
