Confession and Martyrdom
According to the synaxarion, Serapion was apprehended by the archon (governor) Aquila. When questioned about his beliefs, he confessed courageously that he believed in Christ and honored Him. His profession of faith so angered Aquila that the official ordered him executed.
Serapion was thrown into a fire and burned alive, thereby receiving what the accounts call the incorruptible crown of martyrdom. A commemorative verse preserved in the synaxaria reads: 'Serapion having drank of the sacrifice of Christ, / Was thrown into the fire by the enemies of Christ.'
Dating and Historical Context
The sources agree that Serapion suffered under an emperor named Severus and was interrogated by the official Aquila, but they differ on which Severus. The OCA Synaxarion places his martyrdom in the reign of Severus Alexander (222–235), while the account of John Sanidopoulos dates it to Septimius Severus (193–211). Both accounts agree on the core facts of his confession and death by fire.
Localized persecution of Christians in Alexandria is well attested during the Severan dynasty. Clement of Alexandria, writing in the reign of Septimius Severus, described seeing daily 'abundant sources of martyrs that are burnt, impaled, beheaded.' Historical scholarship suggests that persecutions under Septimius Severus were local rather than the result of an empire-wide decree, a pattern that fits the martyrdom by fire of Serapion the New in Alexandria during this period.
Identity and Distinction
Serapion is called 'the New' to set him apart from other saints and figures bearing the same name. He is distinct from Serapion of Thmuis (also called Serapion of Nitria, c. 300–360), a fourth-century Egyptian monk and bishop, companion of Anthony the Great and ally of Athanasius, who authored a Sacramentary; from Serapion the Sindonite; and from the Martyr Serapion commemorated on July 13.
He should also not be confused with Serapion of Alexandria, an ancient Greek physician of the Empiric school active in the third century BC, who was a pagan and unrelated to the Christian martyr. No dedicated encyclopedic article exists for Serapion the New; his account survives only in synaxarion sources.
