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Today the Church remembers St. Apollonius the Apologist, Martyr.

Ora pro nobis.

Saint Apollonius the Apologist, or Saint Apollonius of Rome, (died 21 April 185 AD) was a 2nd-century Christian martyr and apologist who was martyred in 185 AD under the Emperor Commodus (161-192 AD).

Four different sources speak of Saint Apollonius of Rome:

* a record of the trial incorporated into the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea (265-340 AD);

* chapters 40 and 42 of the De Viris Illustribus by Saint Jerome (347-420 AD),

* two versions of the Passio of Apollonius, one Greek, the other Armenian, which were discovered in the late 19th century.

These sources present Apollonius as a senator of Rome, and an exceedingly talented man, well versed in philosophy. He was denounced as a Christian to the Pretorian Prefect Perennius. Summoned to defend himself, he read to the senate, according to Saint Jerome, “a remarkable volume” in which, instead of recanting, he defended the Christian faith. As a result, he was condemned to death on the basis of the law established by the Emperor Trajan.

The sources say he was subjected to two investigations, the first by the Prefect Perennius, the second, three days later, by a group of senators and jurists. The hearings were conducted in a calm and courteous manner. Apollonius was permitted to speak with only rare interruptions, aimed at getting him to tone down his remarks, which were making him liable to punishment.

Apollonius was not afraid to die, because, he said: “There is waiting for me something better: eternal life, given to the person who has lived well on earth.” And he argued for the superiority of Christianity’s concepts of death and life.

The sources disagree on the manner of his death. The Greek Passio says he died after having his legs crushed, a punishment inflicted also on the slave who denounced him; but in the Armenian account he is decapitated, which is the more probable given that decapitation was the right of Roman citizens and not torture. (St. Paul himself appealed for his Roman citizenship rights, both in the manner of his imprisonment and death by decapitation.)

The account about Apollinarius in the Roman Martyrology is as follows:

“At Rome, commemoration of Saint Apollonius, philosopher and martyr. Under the Emperor Commodus, he defended, before the Prefect Perennius and the Senate, the cause of the Christian faith in a finely argued address, and then, after being condemned to death, confirmed it by the witness of his blood.”

Almighty God, who gave to your servant Apollinarius boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.