March 31 - Saint Benjamin lived in the 5th century at Ctesiphon in Iraq. The Persians, at that time, essentially worshipped the Sun God in a dedicated temple.
As a young deacon of Persia, he spread his apostolate among the Magi, despite the persecution of King Yazdgard. This earned him a first imprisonment, from which he was removed by an intervention of the ambassador of Emperor Theodosius II. Because the Christians had set fire to a pagan temple, he was recaptured a year later and died impaled, having undergone the torture of the reeds under his nails.
