caption death_date feast_day imagesize venerated_in birth_date image article_title name
martyr c. 305 april 2 150px roman catholic church eastern orthodox church c. 287 amfiano.jpg aphian
 saint aphian
aphian

saint aphian -lrb- apphian , apian , appian , amphianus , amphian ; and amfiano -rrb- is venerated as a martyr by the catholic church and by the eastern orthodox church .
he is said to have died during the persecutions of the emperor galerius , on april 2 , ca. 305 .
in the eastern orthodox calendar , his feast thus falls on april 2 , along with edesius -lrb- aedisius -rrb- , who is sometimes called his brother .
he was from lycia , and his wealthy and distinguished parents gave him the best education possible in rhetoric , law , and philosophy in the famous school of berytus , phoenicia .
while he was away at school , he became a christian .
aphian withdrew to cappadocia because his parents resisted his efforts to convert them to christianity .
st. pamphilus was at caesarea maritima at the time of aphian 's martydom , expounding holy scripture , and the young aphian was one of his disciples .
he lived at the house of eusebius of caesarea , but gave no intimation of his purpose to make the public protest which ended in his martyrdom .
according to his legend , he was only eighteen when he entered the temple at caesarea maritima , where the prefect urbanus was offering sacrifice .
seizing the outstretched hand that was presenting the incense , he reproached the magistrate with the idolatrous act .
the guards fell upon him furiously and , after cruelly torturing him , flung him into a dungeon .
the next day he was brought before the prefect , torn with iron claws , beaten with clubs , and burned over a slow fire , and then sent back to confinement .
after three days he was again taken from prison and thrown into the sea with stones tied to his feet .
eusebius , an eyewitness , declares that an earthquake simultaneously shook the city , and that the sea flung up his corpse on the shore .
in the old martyrologies his feast was on 5 april , but the bollandists give 2 april as the correct date .
