Diomedes the Younger

Venerable Diomedes the Younger was born in Cyprus, though it is not known exactly where or who his parents were. Saint Neophytus, who praises him, says that from his earliest childhood he was given to Christ, which implies parents who were not only Christian but deeply devout.

Divine Providence arranged that the great bishop of Lefkousia (Nicosia), Triphyllius, should meet the child. He took him in and, together with his teacher, the bishop of Trimythous, the holy wonderworker Spyridon, continued the work of his parents. Beside these two great pillars of the Church, the young man grew and went forward zealously in his struggle, becoming by God's grace a faithful likeness of them. We do not know how many years he lived; Neophytus says only that his whole life was a life of virtue, kindness and offering for the glory of Christ.

At his death the faithful and his many disciples buried the body of their spiritual father, with tears, in his cave, and over it a church was later built, with cells around it, where a multitude of chosen souls lived an angelic life. His death is placed around the year 400.