Aphian
venerated as a martyr by the Catholic Church/Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast: 2 April (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Aphian, from Lycia, was only eighteen when he entered the temple at Caesarea, seized the hand of the prefect Urbanus as he offered incense, and rebuked him for idolatry.
Cruelly tortured with iron claws, clubs and fire, he was thrown into the sea with stones tied to his feet. Eusebius, an eyewitness, says an earthquake shook the city at that moment and the sea threw his body back on the shore.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
A young man who dared to rebuke idolatry and died for it.
Connected on this site
- Aedesius of Alexandria Saint Brother or sister
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Aphian
- Wikidata Q4779600 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Amphian (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.