Leontius of Cilicia

Holy Martyr Leontius of Cilicia was one of three Christians, Leontius, Anthimus and Eutropius, who suffered together with the unmercenary doctors Cosmas and Damian of Arabia. The Azbyka page mentions them all together; the saints are commemorated on 30 October, in the new style, and the page also recalls the day of 17 October.

Cosmas and Damian, natives of Arabia, healed the sicknesses of men in the Name of Christ, receiving from God the grace of miracles. When the report of their teaching and miracles reached the governor Lysias, he ordered them seized. Brought to Cilicia, they refused to sacrifice to idols and boldly confessed their faith; the governor had them beaten without mercy and thrown bound into the sea, but an angel loosed their bonds and brought them unharmed to dry land. Counting the miracle sorcery, the governor threw them into the fire the next day, but the fire had no power over them. He then hung them up and commanded them to be struck with stones and arrows, but the stones and arrows bounced off their bodies and struck the tormentors. Having no other means, the governor ordered them beheaded. With them three more Christians suffered: Leontius, Anthimus and Eutropius.

The five martyrs who suffered together were buried together. The time of their martyrdom is not known with certainty; it is known only that they suffered at the end of the third century, in the time of Diocletian and Maximian. Their passion is also found in the Lives of the Saints by Saint Dimitry of Rostov.