Philip, Severus and Hermes

The Holy Hieromartyrs Philip, Severus and Hermes were three clerics, a bishop, a priest and a deacon, of the Near East, martyred under Diocletian and commemorated on 22 October. At the beginning of Diocletian's persecution, in 304, the Roman government closed the churches that had been opened in times of religious peace. The martyrdom of Philip, bishop of Heraclea, is attested by old written sources, and later hagiographical accounts completed the information and described his martyrdom and that of his companions. According to these, Severus was a priest and Hermes a deacon. Philip and Hermes were arrested after a Sunday liturgy. The governor Justin had ordered the churches closed and all the holy vessels and books delivered to him. The bishop is said to have refused, saying that it was not fitting for the bishop to give them, nor for the governor to receive them. When the chief of police came to put seals on the church doors, Philip is said to have told him: "Credulous man, you imagine that Almighty God dwells rather in walls of stone than in the hearts of men." The bishop and the deacon were thrown into prison, scourged and then burned alive, in 303 or 304.

Their bodies were thrown into the river but recovered by Christians, who buried them twelve miles from the city, in a place called Ogetistiron. The priest Severus, also from Heraclea, is said to have died a martyr on another day at Adrianople. The Syriac and the Hieronymian Martyrologies commemorate Philip and Hermes on 22 October, and Severus the following day.