Martyr Neon of Cilicia

HONEST NOTE ON THE DATE: sources disagree on the date of this group of martyrs' commemoration — besides the date adopted here (October 29/November 11), variants of January 26/February 8 and August 23 also appear; a single dominant date could not be established, which honestly reflects the unstable transmission of this little-known group's commemoration across different menaia.

Martyr Neon was one of three brothers — Claudius, Asterius, and Neon — together with their sister Theonilla, Isaurians from the city of Laranda (modern Karaman, Turkey), who suffered in Cilicia (in the city of Aegae, according to modern scholarship) under the governor Lysias. After their father's death, their stepmother, unwilling to share the inheritance with them, denounced them to the authorities as Christians. Lysias subjected the brothers and sister to prolonged torture, attempting to force them to apostatize; the brothers remained steadfast in the faith and were ultimately crucified, while Theonilla, after further torment, was thrown into the sea.

The account survives through Latin proconsular "Acts" (a record of the judicial interrogation, preserved in two manuscript recensions) and Greek synaxarion texts. Beyond this shared martyrdom narrative, almost no independent information about Neon specifically, apart from his brothers, has survived — modern reference sources treat "Claudius, Asterius, Neon, and Theonilla" as a single hagiographic unit without distinguishing individual details for each.

Their feast is kept on October 29/November 11.