Demetrius of Skepsis

The Holy Martyrs Demetrius of Skepsis, his wife Euanthia and their son Demetrian suffered for Christ in the city of Skepsis on the Hellespont, in a time of persecution of Christians.

Demetrius was prince and prefect of the city. At that time Saint Cornelius the Centurion (13 September), the first Gentile brought to Christ by the Apostle Peter, came to the city preaching the Gospel. Cornelius sowed the faith among many of its inhabitants, and the pagans arrested him and brought him to trial before Demetrius. The prefect demanded in vain that he renounce Christ, and in the end handed him over to torture.

Cornelius bravely endured it, urging the prefect in his turn to abandon his pagan error and turn to faith in Christ. Led into a temple of idols, he destroyed the temple and the idols in it by his prayer. Persuaded of the truth of Christianity by the Saint's preaching and his miracles, Demetrius came to believe in Christ and was baptized with all his family. Because they now believed in Christ, the pagans threw the newly baptized into prison, where they died of hunger.

The saints are commemorated on 11 September.