Hieromartyr Hermolaus of Nicomedia, Priest

Hieromartyr Hermolaus, together with Hieromartyrs Hermippus 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, St. Hermolaus did not cease to secretly instruct those he could reach in the faith. A pagan youth named Pantoleon, son of a Christian mother and a pagan father, then studying medicine under the court physician Euphrosynus, often passed by the house where Hermolaus was concealed. Noticing the young man's good disposition, Hermolaus invited him in and began to teach him that the one true and almighty God is Jesus Christ, and that whoever calls upon His name can heal any affliction. Pantoleon began visiting the elder daily for instruction and was soon baptized by him, receiving the name Panteleimon ("all-merciful"). When St. Panteleimon, already renowned for healing without payment in Christ's name, was seized and brought to trial before Emperor Maximian, he did not conceal the name of his teacher. The holy priests Hermolaus, Hermippus, and Hermocrates were also seized; tradition holds that during the interrogation an earthquake shattered a pagan temple, taken as a sign from above. For their firm confession of Christ, all three were beheaded around 305 — shortly before the Great Martyr Panteleimon's own martyrdom. Their memory is kept on July 26/August 8.