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Today the Church remembers St. Abdisho and Companions, Martyrs.

Orate pro nobis.

Abdisho was a 4th c. AD martyr. According to the Syrian Passio, Abdisho (Abdiesus, Ebedjesu, or Hebed-Jesus) was chorbishop (auxiliary bishop) of Kaskar, a city in southern Mesopotamia. He lived under the rule of the Sassanid Empire. The Sasanian or Sassanid Empire, officially known as Eranshahr (“Land/Empire of the Iranians”) was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th–8th centuries AD. Named after the House of Sasan, it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651 AD, making it the longest-lived Persian imperial dynasty. The Sasanian Empire succeeded the Parthian Empire, and re-established the Persians as a major power in late antiquity alongside its neighbouring arch-rival, the Roman Empire (after 395 the Byzantine Empire).

Abdisho lived during the reign of Shapur II, also known as Shapur the Great, who was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned for the entirety of his 70-year life, from 309 to 379. Accused of conspiracy with the Romans, the arch-nemesis of the Sassanid Empire, he was caught up in the persecutions of Christians conducted by King Shapur II. Many thousands of Christians were martyred by Shapur and are commemorated on different days.

Records indicate that Abdisho was accompanied in his martyrdom by Abrosimus, Acepsimus, Azadanes, Azades, Bicor, Mareas, Milles, and a women named Tarbula. Some were Persian courtiers, others priests and bishops. Tarbula was the sister of St. Simeon, and suffered a particularly cruel death by being sawn in two. Along with Abdisho, 38 Christians were martyred by Shapur II in 374 AD.

Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Abdisho and his 38 fellow martyrs triumphed over suffering and were faithful even to death: Grant us, who now remember them in thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.