Domna of Nicomedia

Holy Martyr Domna of Nicomedia was a virgin and a former pagan priestess, killed by pagans in the persecution of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian (284-305), in the city of Nicomedia. She suffered at the same time as Bishop Anthimus and other martyrs, among them Euthymius, with whom she took care that the bodies of the martyrs were buried.

The persecution grew fiercer after a fire broke out in the imperial palace at Nicomedia. The pagans accused the Christians of deliberate arson and treated them with unheard-⁠of cruelty; on a single Christmas Day, in one church of Nicomedia, up to twenty thousand worshippers were burned. Yet the Christians were not frightened: they confessed their faith and accepted death for Christ. In that time Dorotheus, Mardonius, Mygdonius, Peter, Indes, Gorgonius and Zeno died. Some were beheaded, others burned, buried under earth or drowned. Zeno, a soldier, was stoned and then beheaded for boldly rebuking Maximian.

At that time too the holy virgin Domna, a former priestess, perished at the hands of the pagans. Bishop Anthimus, who governed the Church of Nicomedia, hid at the request of his flock in a village near by and from there wrote to the Christians, urging them to hold the faith and not to fear torments. A letter sent by the deacon Theophilus was intercepted and carried to the emperor.

Theophilus was tortured and died without revealing where the bishop was. Maximian nonetheless learned where Anthimus was hiding and sent soldiers for him. On the road they met the bishop without recognizing him, and he invited them to his table and then told them that he was the one they sought. The soldiers believed in Christ and were baptized, but Anthimus made them carry out the order. Before the emperor, the bishop said that instruments of torture do not frighten one who wishes to die for Christ. He was tortured and beheaded in the year 302.

Domna is commemorated on 10 January and on 16 September (new style), with the company of the martyrs of Nicomedia.