Righteous Nicodemus

HONEST NOTE ON THE IMAGE: one of the images present (file "martyr_nicodemus_1.jpg") on visual inspection turned out to be an icon of a monk writing, inscribed "Ο ΑΓ ΝΙΚΟΔΗΜΟΣ Ο ΑΓΙΟΡΕΙΤΗΣ" ("St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite") — that is, it belongs to an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT saint (Venerable Nicodemus the Hagiorite, 18th–19th c., see the separate card nicodemus_of_the_holy_mountain), not the Gospel Nicodemus; it has been excluded from this card as contamination. No independent Orthodox tradition of venerating a "Martyr Nicodemus" was found — the filename itself appears to be a technical import error rather than evidence of a separate saint.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews (member of the Sanhedrin), who came to Jesus by night (John 3) to ask about being born again, later defending Him before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-52), and after the Crucifixion brought myrrh and aloes to help Joseph of Arimathea prepare Christ's body for burial (John 19:39). According to church tradition, he was subsequently expelled from the Sanhedrin/synagogue for his faith, was baptized, and lived out his remaining days under the protection of St. Gamaliel at his country estate near Jerusalem, dying a natural death. His relics were found together with those of Protomartyr Stephen and St. Gamaliel in the early 5th century.

His feast is kept on August 2/15 (finding of relics, together with Sts. Stephen, Gamaliel, and Abibas), and also as a movable joint commemoration with Righteous Joseph of Arimathea on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women (2nd Sunday after Pascha).