Neon of Corfu

Holy Martyr Neon of Corfu (Kerkyra) is counted among the martyrs around the Holy Apostles Jason and Sosipater, with Saturninus, Iakischolus, Faustianus, Januarius, Marsalius, Euphrasius, Mammius, Murinus, Zeno, Eusebius and Vitalis. The apostles Jason, of Tarsus, and Sosipater, of Achaia, disciples of the Apostle Paul, came in the year 63 to the island of Kerkyra in the Ionian Sea, where they built a church in the name of the first martyr Stephen and baptized many. The ruler of the island shut them in prison, where they brought to Christ seven robbers, who died as martyrs in a cauldron of melted pitch, sulphur and wax. The prison guard confessed himself a Christian and was killed. The ruler's daughter, the virgin Kerkyra, also declared herself a Christian and suffered: she was hung on a tree, suffocated with smoke and shot with arrows. The robber Murinus, brought to her to dishonour her, was enlightened by her and killed as a confessor.

After her death the ruler resolved to kill all the Christians of Kerkyra. The martyrs Zeno, Eusebius, Neon and Vitalis, enlightened by the apostles Jason and Sosipater, were burned. The inhabitants of Kerkyra fled to a neighbouring island, and the ruler, setting out after them by sea, was swallowed by the waves. His successor, seeing the apostles unharmed in the cauldron of boiling pitch, was baptized with the name Sebastian. The apostles built churches on the island and lived there to deep old age. Neon is commemorated on 11 May, in the new style, with the Holy Apostles Jason and Sosipater.