Phiba of Rome

Saint Phiba of Rome lived in the second century and was one of the disciples of the holy hieromartyr Clement, pope of Rome, in the time of his exile in Crimea and labour in the stone quarries of Inkerman.

After, by order of the emperor Trajan, Saint Clement was drowned in the sea with an anchor tied round his neck, in the year 101, at the prayers of his faithful disciples, Cornelius and Phiba, and of all the people, the sea drew back, and the people found on the bottom, in a church not made by hands, called the church of the Angels, the incorrupt body of their shepherd.

After the Baptism of Rus, around the years 988 to 990, Saint Prince Vladimir, equal to the apostles, carried the honoured head of Saint Clement, together with the relics of Saint Phiba, to Kiev, where they were laid in the Church of the Tithes, in a new side chapel dedicated to Saint Clement. The head of Saint Clement is today among the myrrh-⁠streaming heads in the Far Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra. The fate of the relics of Saint Phiba is not known.

Saint Phiba is commemorated on 25 November, old style, which is 8 December in the new calendar.