died c. 287
A Christian of Great Hermopolis in Egypt who confessed Christ under Diocletian and, after grievous tortures, was drowned in the Nile.
The Holy Martyr Asclas of Great Hermopolis
Asclas was a Christian of Great Hermopolis in Middle Egypt who, according to the synaxarion, confessed Christ during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian (284-305) and was put to death by drowning in the Nile near the city of Antinoe. His commemoration falls on May 20.
Brought before Arrian, the governor of the Thebaid, Asclas refused to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods and openly professed his faith. He was tortured at length and at last sentenced to be cast into the river. He is venerated as a martyr of the pre-Nicene Church; the Western tradition keeps his memory as Asclas of Antinoe.
The synaxarion places Asclas in Great Hermopolis (Hermopolis Magna) in Middle Egypt and sets his witness within the persecution under Diocletian, whose edicts fell heavily upon the Egyptian Church. Refusing to sacrifice, he was delivered to Arrian, the provincial governor, who ordered him cruelly tortured.
Tradition relates that while Asclas was held captive, Arrian had occasion to cross the Nile on official business but found himself unable to leave the water's edge; the saint sent word that the governor would not cross until he acknowledged Christ in writing. When Arrian had done so and reached the far bank, he at once ordered Asclas thrown into the river with a stone tied to him, and the saint was drowned. By his own earlier instruction, the faithful recovered his body and buried it together with the stone.