Hesychius of Antioch was a Roman senator who lived during the reign of Maximian Galerius. When Christian persecutions intensified, he refused to renounce his faith to protect his social standing or his life. Because of this refusal, the emperor ordered him to be stripped of his official position and publicly humiliated in degrading clothing. Following this public shaming, Hesychius was executed by soldiers, who drowned him in the deepest part of the Orontes River by attaching a stone to his neck.