Jason and Sosipater were disciples of the Apostle Paul, numbered among the Seventy, who are venerated together with the virgin-martyr Kerkyra and a group of fellow martyrs associated with the island of Corfu (Kerkyra) in the Ionian Sea. By tradition Jason came from Tarsus and Sosipater from Patra in Achaia, and Paul names them among his kinsmen in his Epistle to the Romans (Rom 16:21). The synaxarion relates that Jason was appointed bishop of Tarsus and Sosipater bishop of Iconium before they undertook the mission for which they are chiefly remembered.
Travelling to Corfu, the two apostles built a church dedicated to the Protomartyr Stephen and baptized many of the islanders. The local king imprisoned them, and while in confinement they converted seven fellow prisoners -- named in the tradition as Saturninus, Iakischolus, Faustianus, Januarius, Marsalius, Euphrasius, and Mammius -- who were put to death for their faith. The synaxarion describes their execution in a cauldron of molten tar, wax, and sulfur.
The king's own daughter, the virgin Kerkyra, witnessed the constancy of the martyrs, confessed Christ, and distributed her possessions to the poor. According to the tradition her father had her imprisoned, and when the prison was set ablaze she was preserved unharmed, a wonder that moved many onlookers to baptism. She was at last bound to a tree and slain with arrows. After the persecuting ruler perished, a later governor -- named Sebastian in the tradition -- embraced the faith and aided the apostles in building churches. Jason and Sosipater are said to have continued preaching and establishing the Church on Corfu until they reached old age and reposed in peace.
