Martyr
Martyr Diomedes of Tarsus
† ок. 298–305
Also known as: Диомид врач
Martyr Diomedes of Tarsus — an unmercenary physician who healed the sick and preached Christ in Nicaea; while being taken under arrest to trial at Nicomedia he died peacefully in prayer, but the soldiers beheaded his body anyway and were miraculously struck blind.
Saint Diomedes was born in Tarsus of Cilicia into a devout Christian family and worked as a physician, healing the sick without charge while preaching Christ, which earned him renown as an unmercenary healer.
He later moved to Nicaea in Bithynia, where he continued healing the bodies and souls of the townspeople and ministered to imprisoned Christians. During the persecution of Emperor Diocletian, he was denounced, and soldiers were sent to bring him to trial in Nicomedia; on the way, he asked to stop for prayer and, kneeling, peacefully gave up his spirit to God before reaching the place of judgment.
To carry out the emperor's order, the soldiers beheaded his already lifeless body but were instantly struck blind; their sight returned only after Diocletian ordered the head reattached to the body, a miracle that converted the soldiers to Christianity.
The Church venerates Diomedes as an unmercenary physician and invokes his name in the Sacrament of Holy Unction. His feast is kept on August 16/29.