Chaeremon of Alexandria

Holy Hieromartyr Chaeremon of Alexandria is commemorated among the hieromartyrs Gaius, Faustus, Eusebius, Chaeremon, Lucius, Peter and Paul, who suffered in the persecution of Emperor Valerian. They are mentioned in the preserved fragments of the epistle of Saint Dionysius the Great, patriarch of Alexandria (247-265), to Bishop Germanus, and in the epistle to Domitius and Didymus, quoted in the Church History of Eusebius of Caesarea.

In the persecution of Decius, Gaius, Faustus, Peter and Paul carried Saint Dionysius out of the city of Taposiris. In the persecution of Valerian, Saint Dionysius, with the presbyter Maximus and the deacons Faustus, Eusebius and Chaeremon, appeared before the prefect of Egypt, Aemilian, who ordered them to renounce Christ. They refused and were exiled to the village of Kephro, where a Christian community formed around them. After a time Aemilian sent them to the district of Mareotis, but, as Saint Dionysius says, he, Gaius, Faustus, Eusebius, Peter and Paul were taken from the convoy, and he, Gaius and Peter found themselves in the Libyan desert near Paraetonium. According to Eusebius of Caesarea, Faustus survived the persecution of Valerian, but later was beheaded.

It may be that these reports gave rise to the hagiographic tradition that united these martyrs in one company (the list of names and the days of commemoration vary). In the Greek synaxaria Saint Dionysius and eight companions are commemorated. In the Synaxarion of Constantinople of the tenth century, on 3 October, are listed Dionysius, Faustus, Gaius, Peter, Paul, Eusebius and Chaeremon (in some manuscripts of the synaxarion other martyrs are mentioned). In manuscript Vat. gr. 1613 the commemoration of Dionysius, Gaius, Faustus, Chaeremon and Eusebius is on 4 October. The day of commemoration of these martyrs most probably goes back to the day of Saint Dionysius (3 October). From the Greek synaxaria the reports of these martyrs passed into the Roman Martyrology, where, on 3 October, Dionysius, Faustus, Gaius, Peter, Paul and four more martyrs whose names cannot be established are mentioned.

In the calendar we rely on they are commemorated on 17 October (new style).