Martyr
Martyr Gervasius of Milan
дата неясна (традиц. I в.; по научной гипотезе — III-IV вв.)
Martyr Gervasius of Milan — together with his twin brother Protasius, sons of Sts. Vitalis and Valeria of Milan; their relics were miraculously discovered by St. Ambrose of Milan in 386, an event that became a landmark in the Church's veneration of relics.
Martyrs Gervasius and Protasius were twin brothers, sons of Sts. Vitalis and Valeria of Milan. According to tradition, they were beheaded in Milan for confessing the Christian faith; the traditional dating places their death under Emperor Nero's persecution (1st century), though scholarly examination of the sources (per the Orthodox Encyclopedia) considers this early dating unreliable, suggesting a later period, the 3rd or early 4th century, instead. Their relics were lost and remained unknown until 386, when St. Ambrose of Milan, following a revelation in a dream, discovered them incorrupt during excavations near the Basilica of Sts. Nazarius and Celsus in Milan. This discovery, attested by St. Ambrose himself in his letters and by St. Augustine in the Confessions (Book IX), was accompanied by numerous healings and became a significant milestone in establishing the veneration of relics, as well as in St. Ambrose's struggle against Arianism in Milan. The relics were solemnly translated to the Ambrosian Basilica.
NOTE: the stub_caption placeholder (a fragment of a Menaion icon, Rus', early 17th c.) has been expanded into a full biography. Orthodox veneration is confirmed — the feast of October 14 is kept per azbyka.ru and pravenc.ru (the Western/Catholic calendar marks a different date, June 19).