Martyr Martyr Polyaenus (Polienus) of Rome

CORRECTION: the image — a Menologion fresco for August 18 (Church of the Annunciation, Gračanica Monastery, Kosovo, c. 1318) — was initially read as inscribed "Hermolaus," but per the source itself (pravicon.com/icon-2734), the correct reading is "Hermas" (Hermes); the group of three martyrs is Hermas, Serapion, and Polyaenus, not Hermolaus, Serapion, and Polyaenus. The "drowned in the sea" detail suggested on visual inspection belongs not to this group but to a different, Alexandrian company of martyrs (Cronion, Leonides, Serapion, and Polyaenus, feast August 28) — these should not be confused.

Martyrs Hermas, Serapion, and Polyaenus of Rome lived and suffered in the 2nd century AD. They were known for zealously preaching Christianity and publicly refuting pagan philosophical and religious objections to the faith. For their open confession they were seized and brought before the Roman authorities. Under interrogation all three firmly confessed Christ and refused to sacrifice to idols.

For this they were subjected to brutal beatings and thrown into a dark, unsanitary prison, kept in deprivation. They were then bound with ropes and dragged over rocky, impassable ground; from repeated blows against rocks and outcroppings, including to the head, all three died. Though their bodies were broken by this suffering, their souls, according to church tradition, remained unbroken — they received the martyr's crown and found rest with Christ. Their commemoration is recorded in the Great Horologion, the Greek Menaia, and in the "Lives of the Saints" of St. Demetrius of Rostov.