Theonas of Nicomedia

Holy Martyr Theonas of Nicomedia, who at baptism received the name Synesius, suffered in Nicomedia in the year 303, together with the holy hieromartyr Theopemptus, bishop of Nicomedia.

Theopemptus was bishop in Nicomedia in the time of Diocletian. Speaking against the worship of idols, he defended faith in Christ. Summoned to the emperor, he refused to carry out the command to bow to the idol of Apollo. Saint Theopemptus was thrown into a red-⁠hot furnace, but by the power of God he remained alive. At night the emperor went with a band of soldiers to the furnace and indeed saw the saint alive and praying to God. Supposing that the miracle was done by sorcery, Diocletian ordered Saint Theopemptus to be kept in hunger and thirst for twenty-⁠two days, but here too, by the will of God, the martyr was preserved.

Then the emperor summoned a famous sorcerer, Theonas, who undertook to undo the charms which, they thought, the bishop possessed. Theonas prepared poison in a cake for Saint Theopemptus and offered it to him to eat. The poison did the saint no harm. Theonas tried on the martyr a second time a still stronger poison, but, seeing that Saint Theopemptus remained unharmed, he himself believed in Christ. He was thrown into prison with the holy bishop, who instructed him and baptized him, giving him the name Synesius, which means full of reason.

In the morning Diocletian summoned Saint Theopemptus and urged him again to renounce Christ, but, seeing the saint's unshaken firmness, he subjected him to many hard torments, after which the saint was beheaded with the sword. The holy martyr Theonas, who refused to sacrifice to the idols, was buried alive in a deep pit. This happened in Nicomedia in the year 303. The saints are commemorated on 18 January.