Eudoxius, Zeno and Macarius

Saints Eudoxius, Zeno and Macarius, martyrs, suffered for the Christian faith in the great persecution of Diocletian, at Melitene, around the year 312. They are commemorated on 6 September.

According to the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople (tenth century), Eudoxius held the office of count. Diocletian issued an edict by which Christians were pitilessly persecuted. Eudoxius was taken by soldiers and brought before the governor of Melitene. Symeon Metaphrastes tells more fully. The soldiers find Eudoxius, and he leads them to his house, gives them a meal, takes leave of his wife Basilissa, puts on white garments and mounts a white horse. He speaks with the governor Pontianus and in his speech denounces the service of idols and confesses Christ as the true God. Then he, with Zeno and Macarius, is tortured by order of the governor, and all three are beheaded.

In the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople Romylus and Eudoxius are told in one chapter, but it is noted that they lived at different times. In the Menologion of Basil II (tenth century) a joined account is given of saints from different centuries: Romylus, killed in the second century by Trajan, and Eudoxius, killed in the fourth century by Diocletian. The names of Zeno and Macarius are not mentioned in the Menologion. The mixing of the lives took place, it seems, because the day of their commemoration is the same and because they suffered in the same place. In the Menologion of Basil II an image of Romylus is placed together with Eudoxius.