Hieromartyrs Nicander of Myra and Hermas

Nicander, Bishop of Myra, and Hermas the Presbyter were early Christian clergy of the apostolic age, commemorated together as hieromartyrs on November 4. By tradition they were disciples of the Apostle Titus of the Seventy, the companion of the Apostle Paul who became Bishop of Crete, and it was Titus who ordained them to the priesthood. Their ministry was set in Lycia, in the region of Myra in Asia Minor, where Nicander is remembered as a bishop and Hermas as a presbyter.

According to the synaxarion tradition, the two combined an ascetic manner of life with constant pastoral labors, and through their preaching they brought many pagans to faith in Christ. This success drew the hostility of the local authorities, and the saints were arrested and brought before the city prefect Libanius. When neither flattery nor threats could move them to renounce Christ, Libanius condemned them to torture.

The tradition records that they endured a series of severe torments before their deaths and were honored as martyrs for the faith. Because both held priestly orders, they are styled hieromartyrs. Sources placing them in the first century count them among the ante-Nicene saints of Asia Minor, though the surviving accounts of their lives are brief.