Hieromartyr Patrikiy, Bishop of Prusa

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: the previously empty date has been filled in (May 19/June 1) and the caption fragment replaced with a full biography. The names of the three presbyters martyred with him — Akakios, Menandros, and Polienos — have been clarified. A dating found in some modern sources ("362 AD, under Emperor Julian the Apostate") is not supported by reliable primary sources and likely arose from confusing the persecuting Roman governor Julius with Emperor Julian — for this reason it is honestly not adopted, and the vita is dated to the traditional turn of the 1st–2nd centuries.

Hieromartyr Patrikiy was bishop of Prusa in Bithynia (Asia Minor). He preached Christ openly and denounced pagan error, for which he and three presbyters — Akakios, Menandros, and Polienos — were seized on the order of the local governor Julius, a devoted pagan.

Julius, traveling to hot springs sacred to Asclepius and Hygieia (Soteria) to offer sacrifice, had the chained prisoners brought along and demanded Patrikiy worship the idols. The bishop confessed Christ as the one true God, explaining that the healing springs were His creation for mankind's benefit.

Enraged, Julius ordered Patrikiy cast into the boiling spring; he emerged unharmed while the scalding spray burned the guards. Julius then had Patrikiy and his three companions beheaded. Christians buried him near the spring. Feast: May 19/June 1.