Hieromartyr Hermippus of Nicomedia, Priest

Hieromartyr Hermippus, together with Hieromartyrs Hermolaus and Hermocrates, were priests of Nicomedia and survived after twenty thousand Christians were burned in the Nicomedian church by order of Emperor Maximian (r. 284-305) in 303. Hiding in remote parts of the city, the holy priests did not cease to instruct pagans in the Christian faith. A pagan youth named Pantoleon often passed by the house where St. Hermolaus was hiding; St. Hermolaus began to explain to him the falsehood of worshipping pagan gods, and from that day Pantoleon received holy baptism from him, later becoming renowned as the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon. When the trial of the holy Great Martyr Panteleimon was underway, the holy priests Hermolaus, Hermippus, and Hermocrates were also seized; for their firm confession of Christ, all three were put to a martyr's death around 305. Their memory is kept on July 26/August 8.