Holy Martyr Polyeuktos of Melitene.
St. Polyeuktos was a Roman soldier in Melitene of Armenia in the third century, and is honored as the first martyr of that city. Moved by the faith of his Christian friend Nearchos, he confessed Christ openly, refused to honor the idols, and was beheaded for the Lord he had only newly come to know.
His martyrdom sealed a friendship in Christ that the Church has remembered ever since, and a famous church in Constantinople later bore his name. He is commemorated on January 9.
Feast day
On the New Calendar, Polyeuktos is commemorated on January 9. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on January 22 of the civil calendar.
Who celebrates a name day
People with these names keep their name day on this feast:
Also commemorated on January 9
Eustratios the Wonderworker
Venerable, Ευστράτιος
Venerable Eustratios, abbot of the Augaros Monastery in Bithynia.
Peter of Sebaste
Hierarch, Πέτρος Σεβαστείας
St. Peter, Bishop of Sebaste, brother of St. Basil the Great.
Antonina of Nicomedia
Holy Woman, Αντωνίνα
Holy Martyr Antonina, who suffered at Nicomedia.
Name days: Antonina
Philip of Moscow
Hierarch, Φίλιππος Μόσχας
Hieromartyr Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, who rebuked Ivan the Terrible.
Icon: public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.
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