Plato of Ancyra

Plato was a young man of Ancyra in Galatia (the modern Ankara) in the early fourth century, born of noble Christian parents, raised in the faith from childhood, and described by the synaxarion as both physically beautiful and intellectually accomplished. He came to maturity in the brief reign of the Emperor Galerius (305–311), one of the most savagely anti-Christian of the tetrarchs.

When the imperial edict was being enforced at Ancyra, Plato was arrested and brought before the governor Agrippinus. The synaxarion preserves a long dialogue in which Plato — who had been trained in classical philosophy — answers Agrippinus's threats with arguments drawn from Plato (the philosopher whose name he bore) and from the Christian Scriptures together. The governor, irritated at being lectured, ordered the young man through nineteen distinct torments over many days: scourging, the rack, iron pegs through his ears, the breaking of his legs, exposure to fire, exposure to beasts.

Plato survived all nineteen ordeals (the synaxarion records each in succession, the number marking the Christian's transcendence of the limitations of imperial cruelty) and was at last beheaded. His feast falls on November 18.