Hieromartyr Nestor Bishop of Magydos

Arrest and Trial

The persecution that claimed Nestor's life began with the edict of the emperor Decius (249-251), which required all inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the traditional gods. As bishop of Magydos, Nestor occupied a position the authorities regarded as decisive: tradition records a magistrate remarking that they would be powerless against the Christians until they had overcome the bishop.

By tradition Nestor was forewarned of his coming suffering through a vision in which he saw a lamb prepared for sacrifice. He was arrested while praying in his home, summoned by the local magistrates. When the court at Magydos determined that his case fell to the provincial governor, the officer charged with public order conducted him to Perge. The synaxarion relates that on the journey Nestor was strengthened when he heard a voice from heaven, after which an earthquake occurred.

Confession and Martyrdom

At Perge the saint was brought before the governor of the province, named in the tradition as Pollio, who is said to have first attempted persuasion before resorting to force. When Nestor was asked whether he would sacrifice to the pagan gods, he declared his fidelity to Christ. He was subjected to cruel tortures, and the governor then ordered his crucifixion, which was carried out about the year 250.

The accounts relate that as he died the assembled crowd, both Christians and pagans, knelt in prayer. No original Greek account of his passion survives; the fullest record is a Latin text preserved in the Acta Sanctorum (February, volume 3).

Veneration

Nestor is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on February 28. As a saint of the undivided pre-Nicene Church he is also venerated in the West, where the Roman Catholic Church keeps his feast on February 25. He is depicted in the Menologion of Basil II, the illustrated Byzantine service book compiled around the turn of the eleventh century.