Martyrs Agathopous the Deacon and Theodulus the Reader and those with them

Agathopous, an elderly deacon, and Theodulus, a young reader, lived in Thessalonica during the persecution under Diocletian and Maximian. When the emperors' order to sacrifice to idols reached the city, soldiers arrested them. The governor Faustinus first tried to talk the young Theodulus out of his faith with flattery and then led him toward the executioner's sword, but the blow did not fall.

Both men then refused again to offer sacrifice. According to the account, the governor sentenced them to be drowned: their hands were tied behind them, heavy stones hung round their necks and they were taken out to sea on a ship, where they were thrown overboard. The Church remembers them with others who suffered with them, around 303.