The Holy Martyr Epimachus, the son of pious Christians, came from Egypt; from his earliest youth he loved God with all his soul and had a good intention to serve Him Alone. Imitating St. John the Baptist, he went to the desert and stayed for a long time on the Pelusian mountain.
He did not have any guide from the holy fathers, but the Holy Spirit Himself was his mentor in this harsh, desolate life; love for God supported and strengthened him in this difficult feat. For love of God alone can teach a person virtue more than anything else; it prompted the holy apostles to leave everything and follow the Lord, Who had no earthly riches; it also inspired the venerable fathers, who "wandered through deserts and mountains, caves and ravines of the earth" (Heb. 11:38); Moved by this love, the martyrs and martyrs courageously suffered for Christ, crying out: "I love you, my Fiance, and I suffer for you." 
This love also taught Saint Epimachus to endure desert exploits and labors, to endure all kinds of misfortunes from invisible enemies, to live holily in God, to be ready to die for Him. Having lived in his desolate solitude for many years, Saint Epimachus learned that Christians in Alexandria were suffering severe oppression, and some of the followers of Christ, fearing severe torments, hid in the mountains and deserts, while others fell away from the faith. Inflamed by zeal for God, the holy hermit left his desert and went to Alexandria, wishing to seal the confession of Christ with his blood, suffer for the Lord and thus strengthen the weak. When he came to Alexandria, he saw how cruelly the wicked idolaters of believers were being subjected to torments; with heartbreak he noticed that the devilish piety had greatly increased, and many of the Christians hesitated; the pagans even desecrated the temple of the Lord. At the sight of this, the saint boldly entered the idol temple. There were a lot of people there on the occasion of a pagan holiday at that time, Blessed Epimachus, in the presence of all, boldly threw idols to the ground and crushed them. The pagans immediately seized him and took him to the hegemon Appellianus. Seeing that the hegemon was sitting on the judgment seat and condemning Christians to torment, the saint courageously rushed at him to strike the atheist, and the Appellant would not have escaped the hands of Saint Epimachus if those standing around had not restrained the saint: such zeal for the Lord God was shown by the ascetic. The hegemon was surprised at such audacity of a man poorly dressed in rags. He ordered him to be taken to a dungeon and kept there until he decides what torment to commit him to.
At that time there were many faithful in prison, imprisoned for confessing the great name of Christ; all of them were strengthened by Epimachus for martyrdom; his exhortation encouraged and animated the believers, so that none of them were afraid, did not fall away from the faith, but all gladly shed their blood for the true God and all of them after various cruel torments They gave their souls to the Lord. Finally, Saint Epimachus was subjected to severe torments for not only believing in Christ, violating their holiday, but even raising his hand against the hegemon himself, intending to kill him. First, the saint was hanged and began to be whittled with iron nails, then they began to throw stones at him, crushing his bones, and he exclaimed in agony:
"If my Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for my sake, pierced with a spear and drunk with alcohol, then shouldn't I also be a participant in His sufferings. I want you to subject me to even greater torments than these: strangle me, spit on me, put a crown of thorns on my head, give me a cane in my hands, fill my whole body with bile, cover me with ulcers, crucify me on the cross and pierce me with a spear. What my Lord has endured, I also want to endure.
Many people stood around and looked at the torments of St. Epimachus. There was then a woman in the crowd who could only see with one eye, because she had a thorn in the other. Seeing the suffering of the saint, she cried. At that time, a drop of the holy martyr's blood splashed and fell on her sore eye. Immediately her eye healed, so that she could see with it as with others. At such a miraculous healing, the woman cried out:
– Great is the God whom this sufferer professes.
Then the torturers beheaded the head of Christ's martyr. So Saint Epimachus gave his soul to the Lord, for whom he suffered so courageously.