Theodochus of Melitene

Holy Martyr Theodochus of Melitene is commemorated in the company of martyrs around the Holy Hieron, who suffered at Melitene. The calendar page we rely on tells their passion together and says nothing in particular about Theodochus.

Hieron, a sturdy man of Tyana in Cappadocia, refused to enlist in the pagan army under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. He was brought to Melitene and shut in prison with thirty-⁠three other Christians. There he urged them to offer God the sacrifice of praise and not to bow to idols, and they agreed. The governor Lysias ordered Hieron's hand cut off to the elbow and had the others beaten, and then condemned them to death by the sword. The martyrs were led to the place of execution singing a psalm, knelt, prayed the Lord to receive their souls and were beheaded. A rich man, Chrysaphius, ransomed Hieron's head with gold and later built a church on the place of the martyrdom, while his hand was carried to his mother, an old widow.

Theodochus is commemorated on 20 November (new style), that is 7 November by the old calendar.