Origen’s Pupils Martyred

The first of these was Plutarch, mentioned a little earlier. As he was being led to his death, the man we are speaking of, who stayed with him to the very end of his life, was once again nearly killed by his fellow citizens, as the one who seemed to be the cause of his death. But the will of God preserved him that time too. [a] After Plutarch, the second of Origen’s students to be shown a martyr was Serenus, who gave through fire the proof of the faith he had received. The third martyr from the same school was Heraclides, and after him the fourth was Hero. The former was still a catechumen, the latter newly baptized; both were beheaded. Besides these, a fifth from the same school was proclaimed an athlete of godliness: another Serenus, different from the first, who, the story goes, was beheaded after enduring a great many tortures. And of the women, Herais, while still a catechumen, received the baptism by fire, as Origen himself says somewhere, and departed this life. [b]