The life of St Simeon, Bishop in Persia
Pressed to bow in submission and abandon his faith, he would not, having already given his true reverence to God rather than to any earthly ruler.
Learning that one of the king's own courtiers had been put to death for returning to the Christian faith after a forced apostasy, Simeon gave thanks rather than grieving. Brought before the king a second time and again refusing to worship the Persian gods, he was made to watch as the Christians held with him in prison were beheaded one by one, priests and laypeople together, some faltering and being strengthened by the courage of the others. Simeon himself went last, laying his head upon the block after all his companions. The persecution continued for days afterward, and the Church counts well over a thousand martyrs from that season in Persia, with Simeon remembered as their bishop and their first among many.
