Anthimus of Nicomedia ( el, Ἄνθιμος Νικομηδείας; martyred 303 or 311–12), was the

bishop of Nicomedia The Metropolis of Nicomedia ( el, Μητρόπολις Νικομηδείας) was an ecclesiastical territory (metropolis) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in northwestern Asia Minor, modern Turkey. Christianity spread in Nicomedia ...

Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...

, where he was beheaded during a

persecution of Christians The persecution of Christians can be historically traced from the first century of the Christian era to the present day. Christian missionaries and converts to Christianity have both been targeted for persecution, sometimes to the point of b ...

, traditionally placed under

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

(following

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...

), in which "rivers of blood" flowed.

History

Nicomedia was Diocletian's chief place of residence and was half-Christian, the palace itself being filled with Christians. Christian sources memorialized the "

20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia The 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia refers to victims of persecution of Christians in Nicomedia, Bithynia (modern Izmit, Turkey) by the Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian in the early 4th century AD. According to various martyrologies and menolo ...

". The main Christian church of Nicomedia was destroyed on 23 February 303; the First Edict was published on the following day. Shortly after the promulgation of the edict, a fire broke out in the imperial palace; the Christians were blamed. The massacres transpired in the Christian communities of Bithynia after altars were set up in the marketplaces, in which no transactions were permitted until a token sacrifice to the gods and the ''

daemon Daimon or Daemon (Ancient Greek: , "god", "godlike", "power", "fate") originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy. The word ...

'' of the Augustus had been performed. At the request of members of his congregation, Anthimus took refuge in the small village of Omana, where he provided aid to survivors and sent letters exhorting the Christians to stand firm. When the soldiers of Maximinus were sent to find him, he welcomed them and fed them before revealing who he was. (The detail referring to Maximinus suggests that two persecutions have been

conflated Conflation is the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, opinions, etc., into one, often in error. Conflation is often misunderstood. It originally meant to fuse or blend, but has since come to mean the same as equate, treati ...

.) Amazed at his kindness, the soldiers promised him to tell Maximinus that they had not found him, but Anthimus returned with them, and converted and baptized them along the way."Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedea", Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
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Philip Schaff Philip Schaff (January 1, 1819 – October 20, 1893) was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian, who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States. Biography Schaff was born ...

and Henry Wace note that a fragmentary letter preserved in the ''

Chronicon Paschale ''Chronicon Paschale'' (the ''Paschal'' or ''Easter Chronicle''), also called ''Chronicum Alexandrinum'', ''Constantinopolitanum'' or ''Fasti Siculi'', is the conventional name of a 7th-century Greek Christian chronicle of the world. Its name com ...

'', as written in prison by the presbyter

Lucian of Antioch Lucian of Antioch (c. 240 – January 7, 312), known as Lucian the Martyr, was a Christianity, Christian presbyter, Theology, theologian and martyr. He was noted for both his scholarship and Asceticism, ascetic piety. History According to Suda, S ...

awaiting death, mentions Anthimus, bishop of Nicomedia, as having just suffered martyrdom. Schaff and Wace note that Lucian was imprisoned and put to death during the persecution of

Maximinus Daia Galerius Valerius Maximinus, born as Daza (20 November 270 – July 313), was Roman emperor from 310 to 313 CE. He became embroiled in the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy between rival claimants for control of the empire, in which he was defeated ...

(in 311 or 312) and therefore conclude that, if the fragment is genuine, Anthimus suffered martyrdom not under Diocletian but under Maximinus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthimus Of Nicomedia 3rd-century births 4th-century deaths Saints from Roman Anatolia 4th-century bishops in Roman Anatolia 4th-century Christian martyrs Bishops of Nicomedia Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian