died c. 310
A brother and sister of Nicomedia who confessed Christ under Maximian and endured torture; many witnesses were converted and martyred with them.
The Holy, Glorious Martyrs Eulampius and Eulampia and the Two Hundred who suffered with them at Nicomedia
Eulampius and Eulampia were a brother and sister of Nicomedia in Asia Minor (modern İzmit, Kocaeli, Turkey) who confessed Christ during the persecutions of the early fourth century, in the reign of the emperor Maximian. By tradition they died around 310.
According to the synaxarion, Eulampius was arrested while attempting to buy provisions for Christians hiding in caves on the outskirts of Nicomedia. When he refused to renounce his faith under interrogation he was subjected to torture; his sister Eulampia then declared herself a Christian and was arrested in turn. The two siblings were martyred together, and two hundred witnesses moved by their endurance professed Christ and were themselves put to death.
The group is commemorated together on October 10. As a named collective commemoration they are kept as a single entry.
The martyrdom is set in Nicomedia, an imperial capital of the eastern Roman Empire and a major center of the persecutions of the early fourth century. By the tradition followed here it is placed in the reign of the emperor Maximian, around the year 310.
Historically Documented: The siblings are attested as fourth-century martyrs of Nicomedia commemorated on October 10.
Traditional Accounts: The synaxarion relates that Eulampius, brought to a pagan temple, destroyed an idol of Mars; that the two siblings were cast into a furnace but miraculously protected from the flames; and that two hundred witnesses to these events confessed Christ and received martyrdom with them. These accounts are transmitted as tradition.
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