Saint Abdecalas (or Abdelas) was a

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

n priest of advanced age who, together with another priest, Saint Ananias, and about a hundred other Christians, was killed under the Persian ruler

Shapur II Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned fo ...

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

, 345. One of these others was also named Abdecalas.

St. Simeon Saint Simeon, Saint Symeon or Saint-Siméon may refer to: People * Simon Peter, 1st century AD; first of the Apostles, saint, martyr, first bishop of Antioch and Rome, calls himself "Simeon" in 2 Peter 1:1 * Simeon (Gospel of Luke), the Jerusal ...

, bishop of Seleucia, had been arrested by order of Sapor, king of Persia. He refused to adore the sun and was thrown in a narrow prison and remained there for a long time together with other 100 Christians, such as bishops, priests and clerks. The following day, which was a Good Friday, all his companions were strangled in his presence and he was beheaded. Abdecalas and Ananias, his priests, were martyred with him. They were the persons of distinguished merits. The historian

Sozomen Salamanes Hermias Sozomenos ( grc-gre, Σαλαμάνης Ἑρμείας Σωζομενός; la, Sozomenus; c. 400 – c. 450 AD), also known as Sozomen, was a Roman lawyer and historian of the Christian Church. Family and home He was born arou ...

estimates the number of Christians

martyred A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

during the forty-year reign of Shapur as close to 16,000. The feast day for Saint Abdecalas is 21 April.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdecalas Year of birth unknown 345 deaths Persian saints Assyrian Church of the East saints 4th-century Christian martyrs People executed by the Sasanian Empire Christians in the Sasanian Empire