Leonides of Alexandria

Holy Martyr Leonides of Alexandria, the father of Origen, was a Greek Christian of Alexandria who suffered in the year 202, in the persecution of the emperor Septimius Severus. The Serbian Church commemorates him on 22 April by the old calendar, which is 5 May by the new; the Catholic Church also commemorates him on 22 April.

According to the historian Eusebius of Caesarea, Leonides's son was Origen, one of the Fathers of the Church of the early centuries. Eusebius also says that Leonides was Greek by nationality and that he was martyred in the persecution of Septimius Severus, in the year 202. Condemned to death by the prefect of Egypt, Laetus, he was beheaded, and his property was seized. First, according to the Serbian source, all his property was taken by imperial decree, and then he was condemned to death.

The name of Leonides's wife is not known, but she bore, after Origen, at least six more children. The Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry says that Origen's parents were pagans, which does not agree with the testimony of Eusebius. Leonides taught his children Christianity well. Origen tried to follow his father into martyrdom, but was held back by his mother; it is said that she hid his clothes so that he could not leave the house. In prison the father received a letter from Origen, in which he told him not to worry about them and not to avoid martyrdom for the sake of the children.