Abdecalas
Encyclopedia
Saint Abdecalas was a Persian priest of advanced age who, together with another priest, Saint Ananias
Ananias
Ananias may refer to:* Ananias ben Onias, general of Cleopatra III* Ananias of Adiabene, Jewish merchant and mendicant proselytizer prominent at the court of Abinergaos I...

, and about a hundred other Christians, was killed under the Persian ruler Shapur II
Shapur II
Shapur II the Great was the ninth King of the Persian Sassanid Empire from 309 to 379 and son of Hormizd II. During his long reign, the Sassanid Empire saw its first golden era since the reign of Shapur I...

 on Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...

, 345. One of these others was also named Abdecalas. The Greek historian Sozomen
Sozomen
Salminius Hermias Sozomenus was a historian of the Christian church.-Family and Home:He was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christian family of Palestine....

 estimates the number of Christians martyred during the forty-year reign of Shapur as close to 16,000. His feast is 21 April.
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