Autonomus was a bishop in Italy who, during the persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284–305), left his homeland and resettled in Bithynia, in Asia Minor. There he devoted himself to missionary work, gathering a community of converts and ordering its church life, before he was killed by pagans while serving the Divine Liturgy. He is venerated as a hieromartyr, and his feast is kept on September 12.
The fullest account of his life survives in the Eastern synaxaria; later tradition identifies him as the first bishop of Claudiopolis (modern Bolu) in Bithynia. His memory is shared by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the site of his church in Bithynia drew enough later attention to be the subject of modern archaeological and historical study.
Timeline 4 moments
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284–305Flight from Diocletian's persecutionDuring the persecution under the emperor Diocletian, Autonomus left Italy and resettled in Bithynia, in the locality of Soreoi, where he lodged with a man named Cornelius.
early 4th centuryMission in BithyniaHe preached with zeal and converted many pagans, forming a sizeable Christian community for which he consecrated a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. He ordained his host Cornelius first as deacon and then as presbyter, and extended his preaching into Lykaonia and Isauria.
early 4th centuryWithdrawal and the elevation of CorneliusWhen Diocletian ordered his arrest, Autonomus withdrew to Claudiopolis on the Black Sea. Returning afterward to Soreoi, he consecrated Cornelius as bishop before continuing his travels.
c. 313Martyrdom while serving the LiturgyWhile Autonomus was celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the church of the Archangel Michael, pagans attacked and killed him at the altar. By tradition a deaconess named Maria recovered his body and buried it.
Contributions & Legacy
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Relics & Shrines
During the reign of Constantine the Great a church was built over the saint's tomb. The synaxarion relates that in the year 430 a priest had the old church pulled down without knowing where the relics lay; some sixty years later the relics were found incorrupt, and a new church was built in honor of the Hieromartyr Autonomus.
The site of his church in Bithynia remained known into later centuries and has been the subject of modern scholarship, including Clive Foss's study 'St. Autonomus and His Church in Bithynia' (Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 1987).
