The life of St Pionius
Knowing that he and two companions, Sabina and Asclepiades, would likely be arrested on the anniversary of Polycarp's death, he bound chains around his own neck and theirs the night before, to show they meant to go to prison rather than eat food offered to idols. In custody they met the priest Limnus and his wife Macedonia, held for the same confession.
Brought before the governor, Pionius endured severe beatings and refused every order to sacrifice to the gods. He was condemned to be burned and was fastened to a stake with a Marcionite priest executed alongside him. When the flames died down, those watching found his body unmarked, not even his hair singed, his face still calm. He is remembered as commending his soul to God in that same hour, one who had guarded another martyr's memory and then gave his own life in the same city and the same faith.
