Hieromartyr Cornelius the Centurion

St Cornelius the Centurion was a Roman officer of the Italian Cohort stationed at Caesarea in Palestine, whose conversion is told in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 10–11). Though a pagan, he feared the God of Israel, prayed constantly and gave much alms. An angel appeared to him at the ninth hour and told him to send to Joppa for the Apostle Peter, who meanwhile was shown the vision of the sheet of unclean animals: "What God has cleansed, do not call common." As Peter preached in Cornelius's house, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard; Peter baptized Cornelius with his household. This event opened the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

According to later tradition recorded by St Symeon Metaphrastes, Cornelius preached with the apostles and was sent to Scepsis in Asia Minor, where at his prayer the temple of Zeus collapsed; he rescued the ruler Demetrius's wife and son alive from the ruins, and the whole city was baptized. He died in peace in old age, and in the 5th century Bishop Silvanus of Troas found his relics. Another tradition makes him bishop of Caesarea, and from the 6th century he was also said to have died a martyr; hence the Russian calendar calls him a hieromartyr. He is commemorated on 13 (26) September.