Callinicus of Melitene

Holy Martyr Callinicus of Melitene is commemorated on 20 November (new style) among the martyrs who suffered at Melitene with the Holy Martyr Hieron. The page says nothing in particular about Callinicus, but tells the suffering of Hieron.

Hieron, born in Tyana in Cappadocia of the mother Stratonike, in the time of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, was sought out by the official Lysias as a strong man to take into the army. He refused to serve beside idol-⁠worshippers, put the soldiers to flight, defended himself in a cave, then, at the urging of his friend Cyriacus, set out for Melitene. There he was shut in prison with thirty-⁠three other Christians, urged them to remain faithful, and at the trial his hand was cut off to the elbow. After further days of torment, Lysias commanded that all their heads be cut off. The martyrs went to their death singing Psalm 118. Hieron's head was ransomed with gold by a rich man, Chrysaphius, who later built a church on the place of execution, and his hand was taken to his mother.