Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs Patermuthius and Copres.

Commemorated July 9 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion

From the Prologue

Both were Egyptians, martyred by the Emperor Julian the Apostate. The first was aged seventy-five and the second forty-five. The Emperor succeeded in turning Copres from the Christian faith to idolatry. The apostate Copres cried: 'I am Julian's, not Christ's!' When old Patermuthius rebuked him and brought to his mind the thought of eternal torment, Copres was distressed and cried out before the Emperor: 'I am Christ's, not Julian's!' They were both beheaded. One of the Emperor's soldiers, Alexander, who saw their courage in suffering and himself became a Christian, suffered together with them. They suffered with honour for Christ, and went to Christ in the year 361.

From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK