The life of Pamphylius and His Companions
There he devoted himself to gathering and correcting manuscripts of Scripture, building a library that would remain one of the great centers of Christian learning for centuries, and personally training students in the faith, among them the historian Eusebius, who later wrote of him with deep admiration.
When the persecution under Diocletian reached its height, Pamphilus was arrested and spent two years in prison, where he continued his work copying texts and, together with Eusebius, composed a defense of the theologian Origen. He was finally beheaded in the year 309, alongside the deacon Valens and several other companions, including a young man named Porphyrius, a former slave of Pamphilus who had asked for the bodies of the martyrs to be given proper burial and was put to death for the request even before Pamphilus's own execution. Among the most learned men the Church has produced, Pamphilus is remembered as a martyr for the faith he had spent his life studying and defending.
