From the Prologue of Ochrid
Tarachus was by origin from Claudiopolis in Syria; Probus was from Side in Pamphylia; and Andronicus was the son of a distinguished citizen of Ephesus. All three were tortured together by the proconsul Numerius Maximus in the time of Emperor Diocletian. Tarachus was sixty-five years old at the time of his torture. When the proconsul asked him his name three times, all three times he answered: "Christian." First they were beaten with rods, then, bloodied and wounded, they were cast into prison. After that they were brought out again for torture. When the proconsul counseled Probus to deny Christ, promising him honors from the emperor and his own friendship, holy Probus answered: "I want neither the emperor's honors, nor do I desire your friendship." And when they threatened Saint Andronicus with yet greater bodily torments, the young martyr of Christ answered: "My body is before you, do with it what you will." After prolonged torture in various places, these three holy martyrs were thrown before wild beasts in the arena. Before them, other condemned men in the same arena had been torn apart by the beasts. But the beasts would not harm the saints; rather, both the bear and the fierce lioness fawned upon them. Seeing this, many believed in Christ God and cried out against the proconsul. Enraged with fury, and fiercer than the beasts themselves, the proconsul ordered soldiers to enter and hack Christ's warriors to pieces with swords. Their bodies remained mingled with the dead bodies of the other condemned men. Three Christians — Macarius, Felix, and Verius — who had been present at the slaying of the holy martyrs, came that night to take their bodies. But since the bodies were mingled together, and the night was very dark, they were at a loss as to how to distinguish the martyrs' bodies. They prayed to God, and suddenly three candles appeared above the bodies of the saints. And so they took them and buried them with honor.
