Background
The hieromartyr Astius was born an Illyrian.
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Saint Astius
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He was the bishop of Dyrrhachium (now Durrës in Albania). According to legend, he was arrested by Agricola, the Roman governor of Dyrrachium, and was tortured to death around 98 AD for refusing to worship the god Dionysius. Astius was bishop of the city of Durrës (Dyrrachium), Macedonia during the time of the emperor Trajan (98–117).
The saint once had a dream, a foreboding of his impending suffering and death for Christ.
He was arrested by the Roman governor of Durrës, Agricola around the year 98. He was beaten with leaden rods and oxhide whips, but Street Astius did not renounce Christ.
They smeared his body with honey, so as to increase his suffering with the stings of hornets and flies, and crucified him for refusing to worship Dionysus. His feast day is July 4.
In Albania, he is commemorated on July 6.
Among them were the seven holy martyrs: Peregrinus, Lucian, Pompeius, Hesychius, Papius, Saturninus and Germanus. Witnessing the martyrdom of Bishop Astius, who was crucified by the Romans, they openly praised the courage and firmness of the holy confessor. Because of this, they were seized, and as confessors of faith in Christ, they were arrested, thrown into chains, and subsequently drowned in the Adriatic Sea.
The martyrs appeared to the Bishop of Alexandria ninety years later, ordering him to bury their bodies and to build a church over them.
Their feast day is 7 July. Saint Astius was declared patron protector of the city of Durrëson
