Hieromartyr Pre-Nicene

Hieromartyr Patrick Bishop of Prusa, and Companions

Also known as Patrick · Acacius · Menander · Polyainus

Patrick, bishop of Prusa in Bithynia, with the priests Acacius, Menander, and Polyainus, who confessed the one God before the governor, were preserved unhurt amid boiling waters, and at last were beheaded.

Feast Day

May 19

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Commemorated as

The Holy Hieromartyr Patrick, Bishop of Prusa, and His Companions

Life

Patrick was bishop of Prusa, a city of Bithynia in Asia Minor, and is commemorated together with three priests who shared his confession and his martyrdom: Acacius, Menander, and Polyainus. The synaxarion relates that the four were arrested for preaching Christ and brought before the local governor to be examined.

According to the account, the governor was on his way to the hot springs of the region for treatment and ordered the bound prisoners brought along behind him. When he demanded that they sacrifice to the pagan gods in thanksgiving for the warm waters, Patrick answered that thanks were owed instead to Jesus Christ, who in creating the earth had set fire beneath it to warm the waters that well up as hot springs. For this confession he was cast into the boiling water but preserved unhurt, and at last he was beheaded together with the three priests. The dating of their deaths is uncertain, with the tradition variously placing them in the early centuries of the Church and, by one account, under the persecution of Diocletian.

Timeline 3 moments Read Hide

uncertain date Arrest at Prusa Patrick, bishop of Prusa in Bithynia, was arrested together with the priests Acacius, Menander, and Polyainus for confessing Christ, and brought before the governor of the city for examination.
the trial Confession at the hot springs Ordered to sacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving for the region's warm springs, Patrick declared that thanks were owed to Christ, who created the earth with fire beneath it to heat the waters that rise as hot springs.
the martyrdom Preserved in the waters and beheaded Cast into the boiling spring for his refusal, Patrick was preserved unhurt; he and the three priests were then beheaded.

Contributions & Legacy

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Bishop of Prusa and his companions

Patrick was bishop of Prusa, a city of Bithynia in Asia Minor near the Sea of Marmara. He is venerated together with three priests of his church, Acacius, Menander, and Polyainus, who were arrested and condemned with him; the four are commemorated as a single company of martyrs.

The tradition does not fix their century with certainty. Various accounts place the martyrdom in the earliest period of the Church, while one widely repeated tradition assigns it to the great persecution under the emperor Diocletian. The Orthodox calendar keeps their memory on May 19.

The confession at the springs

The synaxarion relates that the governor, traveling to the hot springs of the area for his health, had the bound prisoners brought after him. After bathing and offering sacrifice, he summoned Patrick and commanded him and the priests to give thanks to the gods for the warm waters.

Patrick answered that thanks for the springs belonged not to idols but to Christ, who in creating the world had placed fire within the earth so that water passing through it is heated and rises as hot springs. Enraged, the governor ordered him cast into the boiling water; by the account it was the soldiers who handled him, and not the saint, who were scalded. Patrick and the three priests were afterward beheaded.

Notes

Named group; dating uncertain.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints