Pionius

Pionius (died 12 March 250) was an inhabitant of the city of Smyrna (modern Izmir) who was executed for refusing the sacrifice to pagan deities ordered by the Roman emperor Decius. He is regarded as a saint and martyr, being remembered by churches of the Latin Rite on 1 February, and by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches on 11 March.

In 249 the new emperor issued an edict requiring all free subjects of the Roman Empire to make a public sacrifice at a recognised pagan site and to get a certificate that they had done so. According to the rite, this might involve offering food, libation or incense and then consuming offered food or drink. Jews, as an ancient cult, were exempted but the recent cult of Christianity was not.

Faced with this edict, Christians in Smyrna and throughout the Roman Empire had various choices. They could comply, but some felt that acknowledging pagan deities implied rejection of the Christian God. They could get a false certificate, not necessarily a very moral act but a practical way of buying peace. If accepted, as some were, they could join a Jewish synagogue and claim exemption. They could emigrate or go into hiding, in the hope that enforcement of the law would peter out. Or they could defy the law, which could well lead to arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution.

Pionius was a scholar and a well-travelled man who was respected in the busy port of Smyrna. He was also an active Christian who studied the history of his faith and served his fellow believers in the city. With two other Christians, Sabina and Asclepiades, he resolved to defy the law.

After spending the night in prayer and fasting, on 23 February (the anniversary of Polycarp's martyrdom) they took communion and tied themselves in symbolic chains to signify that they were already condemned. People seeing them led off unbound might have supposed that the three were prepared, like many other Christians in Smyrna including the bishop, to perform sacrifice.

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