Gelasinus ( grc-gre, Γελασινος, ''Gelasinos''; AD 297) was a reputed Christian

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

and saint. His feast day is observed on August 26. Gelasinus was said to have been a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

"second

mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

" from

Mariamme Mariamme was a city in the late Roman province of Syria I, corresponding to present-day Qal'at El-Hosn or Krak des Chevaliers. The bishopric of Mariamme is no longer a residential episcopal see and is therefore included in the Catholic Church's ...

near Damascus. He converted in the middle of a theatrical contest at Heliopolis (the modern Baalbek,

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

). During a group skit lampooning the sacrament of

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

, he was thrown into a vat of warm water from the

bathhouse Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private bathing facilities. Though termed "public", they have often been restricted according to gender, religious affiliation, personal membership, and other cr ...

and emerged refusing to continue the routine, saying "I am a Christian for I saw an awesome glory in the tub and I will die a Christian". Heliopolis was a center of zealous

and Canaanite paganism and the audience became enraged, taking him outside and

stoning Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times. The Torah and Ta ...

him. His kin and other Christians took his body and erected a chapel in his honor in their village. __NOTOC__ His story is attested by the 7th-century ''

Easter Chronicle ''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 ...

'' in a hagiography of doubtful historicity, although it may preserve an authentic tradition.

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* * * * * {{citation , last=Whitby , first=Michael , author2-last=Whitby , author2-first=Mary , display-authors=1 , ref={{harvid, Whitby & al., 1989 , date=1989 , title=Chronicon Paschale 284–628 AD , series=''Translated Texts for Historians'', Vol. 7 , location=Liverpool , publisher=Liverpool University Press 3rd-century Christian martyrs

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Bibliography