The life of Philemon, Archippus and Apphia
Archippus lived in the same city and served alongside them. The letter Paul wrote to Philemon is read in the Church to this day, and Philemon was afterward made bishop of Gaza.
Under Nero, while a feast of the old gods was being kept, a crowd broke in upon the Christians at prayer in that house. The rest fled. These three stayed where they were and were taken before the prefect of the city. Accounts differ on what followed. One tradition holds that Archippus was beaten and stabbed and died on the road before ever reaching the court, while Philemon and Apphia were stoned by the prefect's order. Another tradition, kept in the Prologue of Ohrid, holds that all three were whipped, buried to the waist, and then stoned together. The Church keeps their memory twice in the year.
