One of the Ten Martyrs of Crete, executed at Gortyna around 250 during the persecution under the emperor Decius.

Saint Agathopus was one of the Ten Martyrs of Crete, a group of Christians from Gortyna executed together around the year 250 during the persecution launched by the emperor Decius, the first empire-wide, systematically enforced persecution in Roman history. The group’s shared martyrdom became one of the defining events of the early Cretan Church.

Quick Facts

• Died: c. 250, Gortyna, Greece (Crete)
• Venerated as: Martyr, one of the Ten Martyrs of Crete
• Companions: Theodulus, Saturninus, Euporus, Gelasius, Zeticus, Cleomenes, Pontius, Basilides, and Evaristus

Who Was Saint Agathopus of Crete?

Agathopus was one of ten Christians of Gortyna, then the leading city of Roman Crete, arrested and executed together around 250. The group, known collectively ever since as the Ten Martyrs of Crete, became one of the island’s most venerated local traditions, their names preserved together as a single company of witnesses.

Historical Setting

The emperor Decius’s edict of 250 required all inhabitants of the empire to perform a public sacrifice before magistrates and obtain a certificate, or libellus, proving compliance, the first time such a requirement had been applied systematically across the whole Roman world rather than through sporadic local action. Crete, like every other province, saw its Christian population tested by this new and more thorough demand, and the Ten Martyrs of Gortyna were among those who refused.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Agathopus of Crete

Agathopus is remembered as part of this defining group martyrdom of the Cretan Church, ten Christians who stood together against the Decian persecution’s unprecedented, empire-wide demand for conformity. Their joint witness gave Crete’s early Church one of its most treasured and enduring local traditions.

Canonization and Feast Day

No formal canonisation process is recorded for Saint Agathopus or his nine companions, as expected for third-century martyrs. Their cult is ancient and central to Cretan Christian identity, preserved through the island’s continuous liturgical memory of the Ten Martyrs.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Agathopus and his companions faced a persecution designed, for the first time, to reach every single person in the empire rather than isolated communities, and their collective refusal is a reminder that resisting a demand for conformity can be most sustainable when faced together rather than alone. Their number, ten, deliberately preserved as a group, underscores that shared witness.

A Prayer to Saint Agathopus of Crete

Saint Agathopus, with your nine companions, the Ten Martyrs of Crete, you stood together against Decius’s demand for universal conformity to the old gods. Strengthen the Christians of Crete today, heirs to your witness, and give all of us the courage that comes from standing firm together rather than alone. Amen.

Sources

• Roman Martyrology
• Butler’s Lives of the Saints