Tuesday of Holy Week

Saint Hypatius of Gangra was born in Asia Minor, though the details of his early life have been lost to time. He became the bishop of Gangra and was known as a faithful shepherd of his people in an age when the Church was tested by division and error. Hypatius took his place among the bishops at the First Ecumenical Council, standing with Saint Athanasius the Great in defense of the true divinity of Christ against the Arian heresy. His witness was sealed with suffering. In the year 326, while traveling from Constantinople back to Gangra, Hypatius was attacked in a lonely place by followers of Novatus and Felicissimus. They cast him into a muddy swamp, and a woman among them struck him on the head with a stone, killing him. Tradition holds that she was later healed at his burial place, a sign of the mercy that flowed even through his martyrdom. After his death, his relics became renowned for miracles, and he is honored as a Wonderworker. He is invoked as patron of Tiggiano. His feast day is March 31.

Saint Benjamin was born around AD 329, and served the Church as a deacon in Persia. He lived during a long and bitter persecution of Christians that stretched across the reigns of the Persian kings Isdegerd I and his son Varanes V, when many believers were pressured to renounce Christ through fear and violence. Benjamin was arrested for his faith and endured a year of imprisonment. Through the intervention of the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II, he was released on one condition: that he would no longer preach or speak openly about Christianity. Benjamin, however, could not accept silence. With the courage of a true servant of the Gospel, he declared it his duty to proclaim Christ, whatever the cost. For his steadfast witness he was seized again and subjected to brutal tortures, remaining faithful until he died a martyr around the year 424. The Church venerates him as a model of fearless preaching and unwavering fidelity. His feast day is March 31.