Hieromartyr Babylas, Bishop of Antioch and those with him: the youths Urban, Prilidianus, and Eppolonius, and their mother Christodula

Babylas was bishop of Antioch and died c. 250, in the persecution under Decius. In the Life told by Dimitry of Rostov the emperor is named Numerian: after the emperor had offered the blood of an innocent boy to idols, Babylas stopped him at the church door and would not let him in.

Later he was arrested together with three boys he had taught, Urban, Prilidianus and Eppolonius, aged twelve, nine and seven, and their mother Christodula. The boys refused to sacrifice and were beaten. At the place of execution Babylas had the boys beheaded first, so that none of them should falter, and then bent his own neck, asking to be buried in his chains. In the fourth century his relics were moved to the suburb of Daphne near Antioch.