Hieromartyr Stephen, Pope of Rome, and Those with Him — August 2 / August 15 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 2 according to the Julian Calendar (August 15 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Hieromartyr Stephen, Pope of Rome, and those with him (†257).

The Hieromartyr Stephen, Pope of Rome, suffered martyrdom in the year 257, during the reign of Emperor Valerian (253–259). The holy father governed the Church of Rome from 253 to 257 and struggled tirelessly against the heresy of the Novatians. During the persecution of the faithful he lived in hiding, yet he continued to preach Christianity and converted many pagans to the true faith.

Among them was the military tribune Nemesius, who came to know Christ the Savior after the hierarch miraculously healed his daughter Lucilla. Ordained a deacon, Nemesius ended his life in martyrdom together with his daughter — they were slain by the sword. The governor Symphronius, who was brought to the temple of Mars to be tortured, melted the golden idol by the power of prayer. Beholding this miracle, the tribune, together with his wife Exuperia and his son Theodulus, believed in Christ and was baptized. The godless burned them all in fire, and Pope Stephen committed the holy relics of the martyrs to the earth.

In those same days twelve pious men were beheaded: Bonus, Faustus, Maurus, Primitivus, Calumniosus, John, Exuperantius, Cyril, Theodore, Basil, Castelus, Honoratus, and Tertullinus, who had been led to the light of the true faith by the blessed hierarch.

At last the pope himself was brought before Emperor Valerian. The lawless ruler sentenced the saint to beheading in the temple of Mars, but through the prayers of the holy father a great part of the temple collapsed, and the terrified soldiers scattered. The primate of the Church then took refuge in the catacombs, in the tomb of St. Lucilla. There the soldiers found him preaching among the Christians, and there they put him to death.