Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia, and with Him the Holy Martyrs Theophilus the Deacon, Dorotheus, Mardonius, Migdonius, Peter, Indes, Gorgonius, Zeno, the Virgin Domna, and Euthymius (†302) — September 3 / September 16 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, September 3 according to the Julian Calendar (September 16 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia, together with the holy martyrs who suffered with him: Theophilus the Deacon, Dorotheus, Mardonius, Migdonius, Peter, Indes, Gorgonius, Zeno, the Virgin Domna, and Euthymius.

The Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia, and the martyrs with him gave their lives for Christ at the time when Diocletian and Maximian (284–305) were fiercely striving to uproot the true faith from the empire. As a pretext for intensifying the persecution of Christians, the tyrants used the burning of the imperial palace in Nicomedia. The godless blamed the Christians for the fire and began to take vengeance upon them with indescribable cruelty. Yet this did not frighten the faithful: they steadfastly confessed Christ and joyfully offered themselves as a sacrifice to the Saviour. At this time the holy martyrs Dorotheus, Mardonius, Migdonius, Peter, Indes, and Gorgonius suffered. The soldier Zeno, for boldly rebuking the emperor, was stoned and then beheaded. In those same days the holy virgin Domna, a former pagan priestess, and Saint Euthymius, who had been burying the bodies of the martyrs, were put to death at the hands of the pagans.

At the request of his flock, Bishop Anthimus had withdrawn to a village near Nicomedia, from where he addressed the faithful by letters and called them to steadfastness. One of these letters, carried by the deacon Theophilus, fell into the hands of the impious and was handed over to the Emperor Maximian. Theophilus was brought for interrogation and tortured to death, yet they could not make him reveal the whereabouts of the holy hierarch. Some time later Maximian nevertheless learned where the blessed Anthimus was staying and sent a detachment of soldiers to seize him. The bishop met the soldiers on the road, but they did not recognize him; the saint received the whole detachment, showed them kind hospitality, and only afterwards revealed who he was. The soldiers were troubled: they wished to leave the hierarch and report to the emperor that they had not found him, but Saint Anthimus would not agree to this. The soldiers believed in Christ and were baptized, and the bishop insisted that they carry out the order of the godless ruler.

When Anthimus was brought before the emperor, the latter ordered that the instruments of torture be brought and laid out before the martyr. To this the saint declared: “O Emperor, do you really think you can frighten me with these instruments? No—one who himself seeks death for Christ’s sake will not be shaken. Only the faint-hearted, for whom nothing is more precious than this passing life, fear the sentence of death!” Then, at the command of the autocrat, the blessed hierarch was cruelly tortured and beheaded (†302).