Life and Ministry
The Orthodox synaxarion records that Procopius was a reader in the Church of Jerusalem who led a strict ascetic life. For this discipline he was granted the gift of casting out unclean spirits, and he became a zealous preacher of the Gospel.
The account of Eusebius of Caesarea, a historian of the persecution, associates his service with the church at Scythopolis (modern Bet She'an), where he is said to have held the offices of reader, exorcist, and interpreter of the Syriac tongue. He was esteemed as an ascetic and as a learned theologian.
During the persecution of Diocletian he was brought with others from Scythopolis to Caesarea Maritima, the Roman capital of Palestine, and there examined. When he refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods, he was sentenced and beheaded.
Relics & Shrines
His relics were translated to the Church of Saint Michael in Antioch, in Syria.
In AD 484 the emperor Zeno erected a church in his honor at Caesarea Maritima, and a chapel was also built for him at Scythopolis. Constantinople is reported to have contained four churches bearing his name.
Veneration and Legacy
Procopius is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions. In Eastern Orthodox practice his name is invoked among the saints remembered in the marriage dismissal.
He is honored as the patron saint of Prokuplje in Serbia. The Orthodox Church appoints both a troparion and a kontakion to his memory.
Miracles & Traditions
Historically Documented: The martyrdom account written by Eusebius of Caesarea survives, and his original narrative is preserved in medieval Syriac, Georgian, and Latin translations.
Traditional Accounts: The synaxarion relates that his ascetic labors won him the grace to drive out demons. Later medieval legends elaborated his story in divergent ways — variously casting him as a soldier-saint, an ascetic, a Persian, or a prince of Alexandria; one such legend named him Neanias and drew heavily on the conversion narrative of the Apostle Paul. These embellished accounts are legendary developments rather than part of the earliest record.
