Holy Martyrs Hippolytus, Irenaeus, Abundius and Concordia of Rome — August 13 / August 26 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 13 according to the Julian Calendar (August 26 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Martyrs Hippolytus, Irenaeus, Abundius and Concordia of Rome.

The holy martyr Hippolytus served as the warden of the prisons in Rome. He was converted to Christianity by Saint Lawrence (commemorated on August 10). Hippolytus reverently committed to the earth the body of his teacher, who had been perfected in martyrdom. When this was reported to the Emperor Valerian (253–259), he ordered Hippolytus to be seized and asked him with laughter: “Have you too become a sorcerer, that you have stolen away the body of Lawrence?” In answer the saint boldly confessed Christ.

The torturers beat the blessed one with rods, but he glorified Christ without ceasing. The emperor commanded that Saint Hippolytus be clothed in military dress, and then said to him: “Remember your rank and renew your friendship with us: offer sacrifice to the gods together with us, as you did before!” But the martyr answered: “I am a soldier of Christ my Savior, and for Him I desire to die.”

Then all of Hippolytus’s property was taken from him, his whole household was beheaded, and his nurse Concordia was drowned in water; the martyr himself was bound to maddened horses, which dragged him over the stones until, his body torn and his head crushed, his soul departed. This came to pass on August 13 in the year 258, three days after the martyric end of Saint Lawrence.

By night the priest Justin secretly buried the martyrs at the place of execution, but the body of Saint Concordia was cast by the lawless ones into an unclean place in Rome. Soon the Christians Irenaeus and Abundius learned from one of the soldiers where the body of the blessed martyr lay; with reverence they bore it away and buried it beside Saint Hippolytus. For this they too, like Concordia, were drowned in water on August 26. The Christians committed the bodies of those who had pleased the Lord to the earth near the grave of Saint Lawrence.