Saint Benjamin

Benjamin was a deacon in Persia, and he died around 424, in one of the hardest periods for the Christians of that empire. The persecution had begun under Yazdegerd I and continued under his son Bahram V. Benjamin was arrested for preaching and stayed in prison for about a year. Then an ambassador of the Roman emperor arrived from Constantinople, and at his intercession the king agreed to release him — on one condition: that he stop talking about his faith to the king’s subjects. Those who negotiated for him accepted the condition. Benjamin did not. As soon as he was out he started again exactly as before, saying that it was impossible for him to keep what he believed to himself. They arrested him again, and this time there was no negotiating: he died under torture. The Roman Martyrology remembers him on March 31. He is one of the many Persian martyrs of those years, a group of whom we often know little more than a name and a date — and he, at least, also left us the words of a man who knew perfectly well what they would cost him. If your name is Benjamin, today is your name day.