Theopemptus and Theonas

The Holy Martyrs Theopemptus and Theonas were killed by pagans at Nicomedia, during Diocletian's persecution, at the beginning of the fourth century. Theopemptus was the bishop of the city, and Theonas a sorcerer called to destroy him, who came to believe in Christ. They are remembered on 5 January. Our sources do not agree on the year: one gives 303, another 298.

The persecution at Nicomedia

The persecution grew fiercer after a fire broke out in the imperial palace at Nicomedia, for which the pagans blamed the Christians. It is said that on the day of the Nativity of the Lord up to twenty thousand believers were burned in a church. In 302 Anthimus of Nicomedia suffered. The persecution did not frighten the Christians, who confessed their faith and accepted death for Christ.

Theopemptus was Anthimus's successor in the episcopal see of Nicomedia. The proclamation of the one God, Jesus Christ, and the rebuke of idolatry were his preaching. Summoned by the emperor, he refused to bow to the idol of Apollo. For his disobedience he was thrown into a red-⁠hot furnace, but remained alive. At night the emperor went there with a band of soldiers and saw the saint alive and praying to God. Ascribing the miracle to sorcery, Diocletian ordered him to be starved and left without water for twenty-⁠two days, but by the will of God the martyr remained alive. According to the Serbian source, he answered the emperor with the words of Scripture, not to fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, and was much beaten and tormented in various ways.

Theonas

The emperor, unwilling to acknowledge the power of God, took Theopemptus for a mere sorcerer and summoned his own sorcerer, Theonas. He prepared a cake with poison in it and gave it to Theopemptus, who ate it and remained alive. Theonas made a new cake with a stronger poison, and Theopemptus, after eating it, was unharmed. In the Serbian source the poison is dissolved in water, and Theopemptus made the sign of the cross over the cup and drank. Then Theonas declared himself a Christian and cried out that he worshipped the Crucified. Both were sent to prison, where the bishop baptized Theonas and gave him the name Synesius, meaning "full of understanding".

The emperor took Theopemptus out of the prison, subjected him to new tortures and then cut off his head. Theonas would not offer sacrifice to idols, and the emperor ordered him to be buried alive in a deep ditch, where he died.

The service and the icon

Their service is in the Menaion and is performed on 5 January, on the eve of Theophany. On the same day the holy Venerable Syncletica of Alexandria is also remembered, and for this reason the service has three parts. Three stichera at "Lord, I have cried" and a canon in tone seven, without a kontakion, are dedicated to Saints Theopemptus and Theonas.

The icon painter V. D. Fartusov writes that Saint Theopemptus is shown as a man of middle age, of Greek type, with a small round beard, in phelonion and omophorion, and Saint Theonas, in Christianity Synesius, as an Egyptian with much grey hair, a large wide beard and long hair, in a tunic and long cloak, like a sorcerer, in rich dress with a broad belt over the tunic. The saints are remembered on 5 January also by the Serbian Church, which keeps the same day as 18 January on the new calendar.