The Eighty Clergy Martyrs under Valens

The Eighty Clergy Martyrs under the Emperor Valens (364 to 378) are Orthodox priests burned alive on a ship near Dakibyza in 370, because they defended the faith against Arius. They are commemorated on 18 May as locally honoured martyrs; no date of canonization is known.

While the Arian Emperor Valens was staying at Nicomedia, a delegation of eighty Orthodox clergy went to him to discuss the question of Arius. They were put to death as martyrs: they were placed on a ship and the ship was set on fire, near Dakibyza (or Dakimiza), in the gulf of Nicomedia. Their memory is kept in the Synaxarion of Constantinople, in Delehaye's edition, and in codex 53 of the Vlatadon Monastery. Church historians also tell the event, noting that Modestus, Valens's prefect, ordered the burning so as not to cause disturbances. Their names are not known.