St. Benjamin the Deacon

St. Benjamin the Deacon was a Persian martyr of the early fifth century, put to death for the faith during a fierce persecution of Christians under the Sassanid kings Yazdegerd I and his successor Bahram V. A deacon of the Church in Persia, Benjamin was arrested for preaching the Gospel and imprisoned for a year, and was offered his freedom on the sole condition that he cease to proclaim Christ to the followers of the Zoroastrian religion.

Benjamin refused to bind himself to silence, declaring that he could not hide the light of the Gospel or withhold from others the truth that had been given to him, and for this he was subjected to horrifying tortures, the accounts telling of sharpened reeds driven under his nails and into his body, which he endured with unshaken constancy until he died around the year 424. Honored as a witness who would not be silenced, he is commemorated on 31 March.