Martyr Themistocles of Myra

Martyrdom

The sources set Themistocles' death within the general persecution of Christians under Decius. According to the synaxarion, a Christian named Dioscorides (Dioskorides) was being sought by soldiers acting under the local governor of Lycia, named Asclepius (Asklepios). The accounts relate that Themistocles concealed the hunted man and offered himself in his place; one source preserves his reported words that whether he or Dioscorides went made no difference, since both were servants of Christ.

Brought before the governor, Themistocles refused to disclose Dioscorides' whereabouts. The synaxarion describes severe tortures: he was beaten about the stomach, suspended and torn with iron implements, and finally taken outside the city, where he died. The faithful recovered his body and buried it.

The year of his death is given as 251 in the OCA synaxarion, while other accounts place the events around 250 without fixing a precise year.

Veneration

By tradition, a shepherd's staff that had belonged to Themistocles was planted beside his grave and took root, growing into an almond tree; the accounts relate that its fruit was associated with healings for those who came to the saint in faith.

A liturgical office for the saint was composed in 1966 by the hymnographer Gerasimos Mikragiannanites of Mount Athos.