Martyrs Timothy Agapius, and Thekla of Palestine

Timothy, Agapius, and Thekla were Christians martyred at Caesarea in Palestine in the year 304, during the persecution under the co-emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311). They are commemorated together by the Orthodox Church on August 19.

Timothy was a native of Caesarea in Palestine. According to the synaxarion he studied the Holy Scripture and, gifted with eloquence, became a teacher of the Christian faith. He was brought to trial before the governor Urban, where he openly professed himself a Christian and spoke of the love of Christ for mankind and of His coming into the world for the salvation of all. After he endured cruel torture without yielding, his persecutors put him to death.

Agapius and Thekla were condemned in the same city and the same year. By tradition they were thrown to the wild beasts and so completed their martyrdom. The three are grouped as a single commemoration in the calendar, and they are venerated across the Greek, Antiochian, and Romanian traditions among the martyrs who suffered at Caesarea during the Diocletianic persecution.