Martyrs Carpus, Papylus, and Agathonike

Carpus was bishop of Thyatira in Asia Minor in the third century — sometimes also identified as bishop of Pergamum, by the local tradition — and Papylus was a deacon of his see. Together with two laypersons, Agathodorus (a servant of Papylus) and Agathonike (sister of Papylus), they were arrested during the persecution of Decius around 251.

The proconsul of the province, Valerius (or Optimus, by the older tradition), interrogated them at length and applied progressively harsher torments to break them. Carpus and Papylus were scourged, dragged behind chariots through the streets of the city, and at last beheaded. Agathonike, watching the death of her brother, leaped onto the funeral pyre prepared for him before the executioners could seize her, declaring that she wished her body laid beside her brother's in the flames. Agathodorus the servant was beaten to death.

The acts of their martyrdom are among the few well-preserved authentic acta of the third-century persecutions and were translated into multiple languages in the ancient Church. Their joint feast falls on October 13.