Barhadbesciabas, deacon of Arbela, was racked in the persecution of Sapor II and told to worship water and fire.
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July 21
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Deacon
Martyr
Barhadbesciabas, deacon of Arbela, was racked in the persecution of Sapor II and told to worship water and fire. He answered that no torment would separate him from Jesus, whom he had served from infancy to old age.
The apostate nobleman Aghaeus, ordered to behead him, trembled so much that he struck seven times and finally ran him through. Two clerics carried off the body by night. Butler and Baring-Gould agree on 354.
Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 178 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.
(date uncertain.) [Modem Roman Martyrology; inserted by Baronius.] In the Roman Martyrology Baronius inserted “at Cumana in Armenia, S. Zoticus, bishop and martyr, who suffered under Severus / S. * 7 But it is impossible to find his authority. Zoticus Ostrenus, a priest, is mentioned in the letter of Apollinaris of Hierapolis, against the Montanists, as having been left by him at Ancyra in Galatia, to oppose the heretics; and that “ when Maximilla was pretending to utter prophecies at Pepuza, Zoticus endeavoured to interfere and reason with the spirit by which she was inspired, but was prevented doing so by those who followed her/' If this is the Zoticus meant by Baronius, then there is no authority for making him a bishop of Cumana, and a martyr.
Keep their day. Remember them on July 21 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.
(date uncertain.) [Modem Roman Martyrology; inserted by Baronius [Cardinal Baronius (d. 1607), church historian who edited the Roman Martyrology].] In the Roman Martyrology Baronius inserted “at Cumana in Armenia, S. Zoticus, bishop and martyr, who suffered under Severus / S. * 7 But it is impossible to find his authority. Zoticus Ostrenus, a priest, is mentioned in the letter of Apollinaris of Hierapolis, against the Montanists, as having been left by him at Ancyra in Galatia, to oppose the heretics; and that “ when Maximilla was pretending to utter prophecies at Pepuza, Zoticus endeavoured to interfere and reason with the spirit by which she was inspired, but was prevented doing so by those who followed her/' If this is the Zoticus meant by Baronius, then there is no authority for making him a bishop of Cumana, and a martyr. If he meant another martyr bishop, the existence of such a person was unknown to every martyrologist before him, and authority for his statement is wanting. Baronius was probably labouring under some confusion at the time, and fell into one of those accidental errors to which all mortals are subject
Feast: July 21
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Barhadbesciabas's story, and a nudge to keep going.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.
