By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Saint Tryphon was from the village of Lampsacus in the province of Phrygia, during the reign of Gordian, in the two hundred and ninety-fifth year since the reign of Augustus. While he was still very young and engaged in work suitable to his age (for he tended geese, as they say), he was filled with the Holy Spirit and healed every disease and also cast out demons. He even healed the daughter of the emperor, who was possessed by a demon. In this case it is said that the Saint pointed out the demon to those present in the form of a black dog, proclaiming its evil deeds, and that by this miracle he led many to faith in Christ.
In the time of the emperor Decius, who succeeded Philip, the ruler after Gordian, he was accused before Aquilinus, the prefect of the East, of telling people not to worship demons. He was brought before him to Nicaea, and because he confessed the name of Christ, he was first beaten with swords. Then they bound him to horses and dragged him, in the winter season, through rough and inaccessible places. After this, they dragged him naked over iron spikes. Moreover, they flogged him and burned his sides with flaming torches; and finally they decided to kill him with the sword, which they did not manage to do, for he had already surrendered his spirit to God.
