Theopemptus of Nicomedia

Holy Hieromartyr Theopemptus, bishop of Nicomedia, suffered in the time of Diocletian's persecution (284 to 305) and was one of the first victims of that persecution. Our calendar gives him no day in the menaion, and our sources remember him on 5 January, with Saint Theonas, and, according to a Serbian source, also on 11 June. The year of his death is given as 303. His life is told more fully on the page of Saints Theopemptus and Theonas.

His confession

It is said that Theopemptus refused to bow to the idol of the pagan god Apollo and confessed that Christ is God. He was at once arrested and brought before the emperor, who began to torment him. He threw him first into a red-⁠hot furnace, from which, in the story, he came out unharmed by a miracle. Seeing this, Diocletian claimed that the miracle was due to magic and ordered him to be deprived of water and food for twenty-⁠two days, but even then he remained alive and healthy by a miracle, in a way that some have seen as like the story of the three young men in the fiery furnace.

Then the emperor summoned the renowned sorcerer Theonas to poison Saint Theopemptus. Theonas tried several times, but without success, and this led him to accept Christianity. Both were imprisoned, and in the dungeon Saint Theopemptus baptized Theonas, taught him the Christian faith and changed his name to Synesius.

At Diocletian's last failed attempt to change him, Theopemptus was tortured and beheaded, and Theonas was buried alive in a deep ditch covered with earth.

Hymnography

The troparion praises him as a hierarch adorned with the vesture of the priesthood, who defeated the enemy like an athlete and brought the glorious Theonas, who came to the Lord, to the knowledge of the truth. The kontakion calls him a servant of the mysteries and of grace, who led Theonas through the struggles of martyrdom to divine faith, and sings that Christ is the foundation of the martyrs. Our sources say that the Greek Church has canonized him.