Saint Pionius of Smyrna

The Martyrdom of Pionius (Greek: Πιόνιος) is an account dating from about 250 AD to 300 AD of the martyrdom of a Christian from Smyrna named Pionius. It is also known as The Martyrdom of Pionius the Presbyter and His Companions, The Acts of Pionius, and in Latin as Martyrium Pionii or Passio Pionii. Pionius was a presbyter, and was most likely killed between 249 and 251 AD during the rule of the Roman Emperor Decius. The feast day of Saint Pionius is kept on March 11 in Eastern Orthodox churches, and on February 1 in Roman Catholicism. The narrative records that Pionius and several other Christians were killed on the "birthday" of Polycarp, a prominent Christian martyr of an earlier period. Warned by God in a dream the previous night about his impending martyrdom, Pionius is arrested, gives a speech to local Jews and Greeks, is put on trial, imprisoned and tortured, then killed. The Martyrdom portrays Pionius as a willing martyr, even going so far as to place himself in chains prior to his arrest, repeatedly emphasizing that he goes freely to his death. Historian Geoffrey de Ste. Croix says, "If with most scholars we date the martyrdom of Pionius to the Decian persecution (250 AD), following the Passio Pionii, we cannot reckon Pionius a volunteer even though after being arrested he wrapped chains around his own neck and those of his two companions (Pass.Pion.2.3-4), since Pionius and the others would have been required to sacrifice in any event; but if Eusebius (HE 4.15.47) is right in putting the martyrdom under Marcus Aurelius (as believed, e.g., by Grégoire (Persecutions 108-114,157 f.) who ruled from 161 to 180 AD, then we should have to count Pionius and his two companions as volunteers.": 170  The Empire-wide measures taken under Decius in 250 AD required everyone to provide sacrifices and eat sacrificial meat, one of the four things forbidden to Christians by the original Apostles in Acts 21:25.