Holy Martyr Theotecnus (3rd–4th Century) — October 10 / October 23 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, October 10 according to the Julian Calendar (October 23 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Martyr Theotecnus.

The holy martyr Theotecnus was a military commander in the time of the Emperor Maximian Galerius (305–311). Once the emperor came to Antioch, where the chosen one of the Lord was serving, and demanded that all the inhabitants of the city offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Theotecnus, a Christian, refused to carry out the command. Then the lawless ruler, who mocked the faith of the Savior, had the valiant knight dressed in women’s clothing and set him to spin thread among the maidservants.

Three weeks later Maximian summoned the martyr, hoping that the humiliation had already broken his spirit; but the blessed one answered with a courageous confession of Christ. Enraged, Maximian ordered that the saint be tortured and then thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch. Yet as soon as Theotecnus was cast into the cauldron, the fire beneath it went out and the pitch grew cold. The emperor was terrified and no longer dared to continue the torture; he sent the martyr to prison and ordered his centurion to deal with the blessed one.

In the prison together with Theotecnus was a Christian confessor named Alexandra, and the saint helped her to escape. When the centurion learned of this, he tortured the martyr savagely and finally threw him into the sea with a stone tied around his neck. Some time later Christians found the holy relics of the God-pleaser in the coastal city of Rhosus in Cilicia and buried them with honor.