Hermocrates of Nicomedia

Holy Hieromartyr Hermocrates of Nicomedia, a priest, was beheaded around the year 305, in the time of the persecution of the Emperor Maximian, together with the priests Hermolaus and Hermippus. They are among the few priests of Nicomedia who survived the burning, in the year 303, of twenty thousand Christians in the city church.

Hidden in remote places, they went on teaching the pagans. Hermolaus, who hid in a house past which the young Pantoleon walked, was granted to baptize him, the future Great Martyr Panteleimon. When Panteleimon was tried, the three priests were seized too. Hermolaus had seen Christ the day before, who told him that the next day he would receive the crown of martyrdom. Brought to trial, Hermolaus, Hermippus and Hermocrates firmly refused to renounce Christ and sacrifice to the idols, and an earthquake threw down the idols in the shrine. Maximian, enraged, gave them over to torture and condemned them; they were beheaded.

The Synaxarion commemorates Hermocrates, with Hermolaus and Hermippus, on 8 August (new style).