The brothers Jonah and Barachisios were Christians. They lived in the village of Iasy in Persia during the reign of the Persian king Sapor, a cruel persecutor of Christians. Learning that Christians were being tortured in the city of Varavokh, the brothers went there, found in prison the martyrs Zaniphan, Lazarus, Maruphan, Narsin, Elijah, Marin, Aviv, Sivephin, and Sabbas, and encouraged them to remain steadfast in the Christian faith until the end. For this they were seized and subjected to cruel tortures by the princes Masdraph, Siroph, and Marmisios.
Saint Jonah endured many sufferings: he was brutally beaten, dragged over ice, had his fingers cut off, the skin torn from his head, his tongue cut out, and was thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch. He emerged from the cauldron unharmed, after which he was crushed in a press and sawn in two.
Saint Barachisios was tortured with red-hot chains, molten lead was poured over his body, and he was hung in prison. He was also tormented, dragged over thorny plants, and torn apart on a rotating wheel, after which he gave up his spirit to God.
The bodies of the holy martyrs Jonah, Barachisios, and the other tortured passion-bearers were buried by a pious Christian named Abdisot.
