Martyr Basiliscus the Bishop of Comana

Basiliscus came from a village in Pontus, in Asia Minor. He was arrested in the persecution under Emperors Maximian and Maximin together with Eutropius and Cleonicus, and kept in prison at Amasia. His Life tells that, when the governor Agrippa arrived, guards led him to Comana in iron shoes studded with nails. There, according to the Life, a statue of Apollo fell when he prayed. He was beheaded about 308, and his body was ordered thrown into the river; the Life says that his companion Eusignius, who wrote the account, buried it secretly. A church was later built over his grave.