Historical Context
The martyrdom of Simeon, Isaac, and Bachtisius belongs to the broad persecution of Christians in Sasanian Persia. The anchor record places them in the 4th century, the period of the most severe and systematic persecution of the Persian Church, carried out under the emperor Shapur II (reigned 309–379). An earlier tradition reflected in the Orthodox calendar describes them as living in the third century under the same dynasty; the 4th-century dating is followed here.
Under Shapur II, Zoroastrianism was the state religion of the empire, and its worship of sacred fire was demanded of his subjects. Persia was at war with the Roman Empire, and Christians came to be regarded with suspicion as potential sympathizers with Rome. The persecution that followed saw the killing of clergy, the destruction of churches, and the confiscation of church property; the fifth-century historian Sozomen records that many thousands of named martyrs perished in this period, with many more unnamed.
It was within this setting that Simeon, Isaac, and Bachtisius were called upon to renounce Christ and worship fire. Their refusal, and the death it brought them, places them among the great company of Persian martyrs of the age, though the surviving sources do not connect them by name to any of the better-documented figures of the persecution.