✝ Holy Martyr Diomedes the Physician
August 16 / August 29 (Julian Calendar)
On this day, August 16 according to the Julian Calendar (August 29 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Martyr Diomedes the Physician.
The Holy Martyr Diomedes was born in Tarsus of Cilicia. He was a Christian deeply learned in the art of medicine, and he healed both bodily and spiritual illnesses without payment. The Church venerates him as a healer and asks his intercession at the celebration of the Mystery of Holy Unction.
The saint traveled widely, preaching the Gospel. When Diomedes came to the city of Nicaea, the Emperor Diocletian (284–305) sent soldiers to seize him. By the providence of God, Saint Diomedes died on the road to Nicomedia while he was at prayer. The soldiers, in order to prove that they had indeed carried out their charge, cut off the blessed one’s head, but for this sacrilege they lost their sight. When Diocletian saw the soldiers frightened and blinded, he ordered that the martyr’s head be carried back again. The soldiers obeyed the command, and their sight was restored to them, after which they believed in the true God.
May the intercessions of the Holy Martyr Diomedes the Physician be with us all.