Neophytus of Nicaea is venerated as a youth-martyr of the early fourth century, put to death for confessing Christ during the persecution under the emperor Diocletian. According to the synaxarion he was a native of Nicaea in Bithynia, raised by his parents in strict Christian piety, and was still a boy at the time of his death.
His traditional life is rich in wonders ascribed to his childhood, and the synaxarion relates that he withdrew to a cave on Mount Olympus before returning to Nicaea to openly denounce paganism. He is commemorated on January 21.
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ChildhoodWonders of his youthBy tradition, while still a child he was given a gift of wonderworking; the synaxarion relates that, like Moses, he brought water from a stone of the city wall to give to the thirsty.
From age nineWithdrawal to Mount OlympusTradition relates that, led by a white dove that appeared in answer to his mother's prayer, he withdrew to a cave on Mount Olympus that had served as a lion's den, where he lived an ascetic life from about the age of nine until fifteen.
c. 305Confession and martyrdomDuring the persecution under Diocletian he returned to Nicaea and denounced the worship of idols. After being tortured he was run through with a sword (or spear) and died, while still a youth.
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Life and Traditional Accounts
Neophytus is described in the synaxarion as a native of Nicaea in Bithynia, raised by his parents in strict Christian piety. From his childhood a number of wonders are ascribed to him: that he brought forth water from a stone of the city wall to give to the thirsty, and that a white dove appeared in answer to his mother's prayer and led him from his home to a cave on Mount Olympus. The cave is said to have been a lion's den, from which he drove out the lion in order to dwell there himself.
By these accounts he lived in the cave from about the age of nine until fifteen, leaving it only once to bury his parents and give away their possessions to the poor. These episodes belong to the traditional hagiography preserved in the synaxarion rather than to independently documented history.
Martyrdom
During the persecution of the emperor Diocletian, Neophytus returned to Nicaea and openly denounced the pagan religion. The synaxarion relates that his persecutors hung him from a tree and whipped him with ox thongs, scraped his body with iron claws, and cast him into a red-hot oven, in which he is said to have remained unharmed for three days and nights. A lion set against him is said to have spared him.
He was finally run through with a sword, which some accounts call a spear, and so died. The sources describe him as still a youth at his death, giving his age as fifteen or sixteen. He is commemorated on January 21.
