Martyr 3rd century

Martyrs Victorinus Victor and Companions of Corinth

died c. 251

Also known as Victorinus, Victor, Nikephoros, Claudius, Diodorus, Serapion and Papias

A company of confessors who suffered terrible torments at Corinth under the persecution of Decius.

Feast Day

January 31

Also Apr 5

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Commemorated as

The Holy Martyrs Victorinus, Victor, Nikephoros, Claudius, Diodorus, Serapion, and Papias of Corinth

Life

Victorinus, Victor, Nikephoros, Claudius, Diodorus, Serapion, and Papias were a company of Christian martyrs who suffered at Corinth in Greece during the persecution under the emperor Decius (249-251). The synaxarion places their martyrdom in the year 251. They are commemorated together on January 31, with a secondary commemoration on April 5.

According to the tradition preserved in the Greek synaxaria, the seven were arrested for their confession of Christ and brought before Tertius, the proconsul who held authority over the Morea, the region corresponding to the Peloponnese. Refusing to renounce their faith, each was subjected to a distinct form of execution, so that the account of their suffering names a different death for nearly every member of the company.

The martyrs are remembered as a collective commemoration rather than for individually preserved biographies; the surviving sources record little beyond their names and the manner of their deaths. Western martyrologies likewise list a group of martyrs of Corinth under the same date and persecution, noting that little is known of them apart from some of the names that have been handed down.

Timeline 2 moments Read Hide

249-251 Persecution of Decius The emperor Decius issues edicts requiring sacrifice to the gods, intensifying persecution of Christians across the empire.
c. 251 Martyrdom at Corinth The seven companions are arrested, brought before the proconsul Tertius, and put to death by various means.

Contributions & Legacy

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The Martyrdoms

The tradition assigns a separate death to each of the martyrs. Victorinus, Victor, and Nikephoros were bound within a large stone mortar and crushed, the synaxarion relating that the members of their bodies were broken under a heavy pestle. Claudius was put to death after his hands and feet were cut off.

Of the remaining companions, Diodorus was cast into a fiery furnace, Serapion was beheaded by the sword, and Papias was thrown into the sea and drowned. The variety of the punishments became a fixed feature of the way the company is remembered in the liturgical tradition.

Sources and Identity

The Orthodox synaxarion commemorates the seven on January 31. The same persecution at Corinth is reflected in Western martyrological lists, which gather a somewhat larger and partly overlapping set of names of Corinthian martyrs under the same day, while acknowledging that the historical record is limited to those names. Because the sources are sparse, the company is treated as a single shared commemoration.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Jan 31