Epiphanius of Melitene

Holy Martyr Epiphanius of Melitene is commemorated in the company of the martyrs of Melitene who suffered with Saint Hieron, in the time of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. The Synaxarion says nothing specific about him, but tells in outline the struggle of the confessors.

Hieron, from Tyana in Cappadocia, the pious son of Stratonice, refused military service among the worshippers of idols and beat the soldiers sent to take him. He was brought back with kind words to his mother, an old blind widow, and then set out for Melitene with his relatives. On the way an angel in white garments announced that he would soon receive honour from the King of heaven.

At Melitene he was shut in prison with thirty-⁠three other Christians, whom he told not to bow to the idols but to offer God a sacrifice of praise. The judge Lysias beat them without mercy and then condemned them to be beheaded. Going to their death, the martyrs sang the psalm Blessed are the undefiled in the way.

A rich man, Chrysaphius, ransomed the head of Hieron with gold and later built a church on the place where the martyrs were killed. The Synaxarion commemorates them all on 20 November (new style).