Martyr
Martyr Conon the Gardener of Mandona (Magydos)
† 249–251
Also known as: Конон Магидосский, Конон Градарь
Martyr Conon the Gardener — a native of Nazareth in Galilee who settled in Mandona (Magydos), Pamphylia, and worked as a gardener; during Decius's persecution, nails were driven through his feet and he was driven before a chariot until he died.
Martyr Conon was born in Nazareth of Galilee and was, by tradition, a kinsman of Christ. He settled in the city of Mandona (also called Magid or Magydos) in Pamphylia, where he worked as a gardener, irrigating and tending a garden, living a simple and pious life.
During the persecution under Emperor Decius (249–251), when the townspeople fled, Conon alone remained and was seized by the governor's men. The governor ordered iron nails driven through his feet and had him driven before his chariot, whipped forward, until the exhausted saint collapsed in the marketplace.
Praying to God, Conon surrendered his spirit.
His feast is kept on March 5/18.
NOTE ON THE IMAGE: the entry's sole image shows a bearded saint with a cross, a bowl (of garden produce), and a horse-drawn cart — contextually plausible and consistent with this specific vita (the cart alludes to his execution "before a chariot," the bowl to his occupation as a gardener).