Biography
Agathangelus of Rome
About Agathangelus of Rome
Agathangelus is known through a passion tradition shared with Clement, bishop of Ancyra. Biblissima catalogs a Greek Passio of Clement and Agathangelus under BHG 352 and lists multiple manuscript witnesses. The catalog entry documents the transmission of the work, not the historicity of each episode. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America identifies Agathangelus as a Roman and commemorates him with Clement. The Orthodox Church in America likewise presents him as Clement’s disciple. The available sources are ecclesiastical and hagiographic, so the account below describes the received story rather than a verified court record.According to the OCA retelling, Agathangelus joined Clement while Clement was being transported after imprisonment and interrogation. The text portrays him as a disciple who chose to share Clement’s suffering. It then recounts that the two were sent to officials in several cities and repeatedly tortured. These journeys and episodes belong to the passion story; they are not independently confirmed by contemporary evidence. The narrative does not securely establish a precise death year or place.The OCA account says Agathangelus was beheaded on November 5, while Clement was later killed on January 23. It commemorates the two together on January 23 and links Agathangelus to the martyr tradition of Ancyra. These dates are preserved as details within a church tradition, not as independently corroborated civil chronology. His martyr identity and shared commemoration rest on that tradition; his exact death year and place remain unestablished.
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