Four holy martyrs who suffered together for Christ: Elpidephorus was beheaded, Dius stoned, Bithonius drowned, and Galycus given to wild beasts.
The Holy Martyrs Elpidephorus, Dius, Bithonius, and Galycus
Elpidephorus, Dius, Bithonius, and Galycus are four early martyrs commemorated together by the Orthodox Church on April 3. They are recorded as having suffered for their faith in Christ, each put to death in a different manner: Elpidephorus was beheaded with a sword, Dius was stoned, Bithonius was drowned in the sea, and Galycus was condemned to wild beasts.
Beyond their names, their shared feast day, and the recorded manners of their deaths, the surviving accounts preserve little detail. The region in which they suffered is not given, and the era of their martyrdom is not securely transmitted in the sources used here.
The four are listed jointly under April 3 in Orthodox synaxaria and calendars, where they appear among the day's commemorations without an extended life. Because the sources describe them as a single group sharing one feast, they are treated here as one commemoration rather than four separate entries.
Named cluster commemorated as one; individual names listed in Also Known As per grouping rule. Era/century not preserved in source.