I have to remark on this parish, that all the southern part is in the
hundred of Powder, although it is wholly rated to that of Pidar.
Athenodorus, to whom this church is dedicated, is a saint in the Roman
Calendar, and brother to Gregory Thaumaturgus, or the miracle-worker,
both natives of Neocæserea, in Pontus, or Cappadocia; of noble
extraction, very well skilled in the sciences, the knowledge of
tongues, and philosophy; who, hearing of the great fame of Origen,
came to hear him, and were by his learned lessons, and holy
exhortations, brought to leave the Pagan philosophy and all mundane
sciences, and to embrace the holy theology, in which they made so
great a progress in the space of five years, under so good a master,
that, although they were both very young, they were honoured with the
office of Bishops in the churches of Pontus. This St. Athenodorus
suffered martyrdom about the year 272, under Aurelian.