Martyr
Martyr Anatolius
† ок. 303
Martyr Anatolius of Nicomedia — a court official who, together with his companion Protoleon, witnessed the tortures and miracles of Great Martyr George the Victorious, openly confessed Christ, and was immediately beheaded together with Queen Alexandra, wife of Emperor Diocletian, who believed by the same example.
Martyr Anatolius was a court official in Nicomedia, serving at the court of Emperor Diocletian. Together with his companion Protoleon, he witnessed the torments and miracles of Great Martyr George the Victorious before the emperor.
Moved by his steadfastness and the miracles displayed, Anatolius and Protoleon openly confessed Christ before the court. By the same example, Queen Alexandra, wife of Emperor Diocletian himself, also came to believe. All were immediately condemned and beheaded around 303, on the same day as Great Martyr George.
His feast is kept on April 23/May 6 — the feast day of Great Martyr George the Victorious and Martyr Queen Alexandra.
IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE IMAGES: the entry's images turned out to be contradictory — one shows a bishop in an omophorion (inconsistent with the status of a lay courtier), another is a modern secular photograph (two men at a press conference, unrelated), a third depicts an entirely different group of martyrs ("Despesius, Eustathius, and Anatolius"), and a fourth is an image of the Savior with no connection to Anatolius. None of the four images reliably confirms this particular person (Anatolius of Nicomedia, companion of Great Martyr George); all have been removed as unreliable.