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Martyr4th century

Martyrs Anicetus and Photius of Nicomedia and those with them

died c. 305 (Nicomedia)

Also known as Anicetus · Photius

Anicetus, a military official of Nicomedia, denounced Diocletian's persecution, and with his nephew Photius and others endured martyrdom.

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The Holy Glorious Martyrs Anicetus and Photius of Nicomedia, and Those with Them

Life

Anicetus and Photius were natives of Nicomedia in Asia Minor who were martyred during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian (284–305). Photius was the nephew of Anicetus, and the two were commemorated together with a larger company of Christians who died alongside them.

By one account Anicetus held a position as a military official; another tradition describes him as the son of a wealthy Christian family trained as a physician, who raised and educated his orphaned nephew Photius in the same profession. The synaxarion relates that Anicetus openly denounced Diocletian for erecting an instrument of execution in the city square to intimidate Christians, and that this public confession of faith brought the two to trial.

The lives recount a series of tortures the martyrs are said to have survived unharmed before they were finally cast into a furnace, where they gave up their spirits while their bodies remained untouched by the flames. Many other Christians, moved by their steadfastness, are said to have joined them in death. Anicetus and Photius are named in the prayers for the Blessing of Oil and the Lesser Blessing of Water, and their feast is kept on August 12.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide
TroparionTone 4

Your holy martyrs Anicetus and Photius, O Lord,
through their sufferings have received incorruptible crowns from You, our God.
For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through their intercessions, save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline2 momentsReadHide
  1. 284–305Reign of DiocletianAnicetus and Photius lived in Nicomedia during the reign of the emperor Diocletian, a period in which the imperial capital became a center of intense persecution of Christians.
  2. c. 305Martyrdom at NicomediaAfter Anicetus denounced the emperor's intimidation of Christians, he and his nephew Photius endured a succession of tortures and were ultimately cast into a furnace, where they died together with a company of fellow Christians.

Contributions & Legacy

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Confession and Trial

According to the synaxarion, Anicetus was provoked to open confession when Diocletian set up an implement of execution in the public square of Nicomedia to frighten the city's Christians. Rather than be intimidated, Anicetus denounced the emperor, and this public stand led to his arrest and to that of his nephew Photius.

The accounts of the saints' background differ. One tradition presents Anicetus as a military official of the city; another describes both men as physicians from a wealthy Christian family who practiced medicine without accepting payment or gifts, an 'unmercenary' manner of healing, on account of which Anicetus is numbered among the Holy Unmercenaries.

Tortures and Death

The lives relate a sequence of tortures that the martyrs are said to have survived: lions released against Anicetus are described as becoming gentle, an executioner who attempted a beheading is said to have collapsed, and attempts to break him on a wheel, to burn him, to immerse him in boiling tin, and to drag both men by horses are all recounted as having failed to harm them.

By these accounts the two martyrs, together with many other Christians who were moved by their example and confessed themselves Christians, were finally cast into a great furnace. There the martyrs gave up their spirits, while their bodies — and, the synaxarion adds, even their hair — are said to have remained whole and unharmed by the fire.

Relics and Veneration

By tradition the bodies of Anicetus and Photius were taken in secret by Christians and buried, and in a later time, when Christians could worship freely, a church was built beside their tombs.

Saints Anicetus and Photius are named in the prayers for the Blessing of Oil and the Lesser Blessing of Water, and they are commemorated in the Orthodox calendar on August 12.

Historical Context

The persecution at Nicomedia, the eastern imperial capital, was among the most severe of the Diocletianic period. Its intensity has been linked to fires in the imperial palace in early 303, after which executions of Christians followed; clergy were subject to arrest and execution, and named martyrs of the city from this period include the bishop Anthimus and the palace officials Dorotheus and Gorgonius.

This profile follows the saints' anchor record in dating their martyrdom to about 305 and assigning them to the pre-Nicene era; some external accounts give an earlier date, but the precise year cannot be fixed with certainty from the surviving lives.

Member ofReadHide
Synaxis of the Holy Unmercenaries
Commemorated together · Oct 17
Related Saints1 saintShowHide

Saints connected to his life, mission, and place in Orthodox tradition.

Fellow martyr of Nicomedia — the city's bishop, put to death in the same Diocletianic persecution that the lives name as the setting of their confession.
Hieromartyr Anthimusof Nicomedia

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints; https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2017/10/synaxis-of-all-holy-and-wonderworking.html