The great martyrs and their names: from Saint George to Saint Barbara

Many of the most common Greek names come from a group of saints whom the Church calls great martyrs (megalomartyres). Giorgos (George), Dimitris, Katerina (Catherine) and Eirini (Irene) are among them. This guide explains the title and shows which names celebrate on their days.

What “great martyr” means

The word martyr comes from the Greek martys, “witness”: a martyr is a saint who bore witness to Christ by his or her death. As OrthodoxWiki notes, the title of great martyr is given to those who suffered especially harsh tortures before they died.

Other titles say who the martyr was: a hieromartyr died as a priest, a venerable martyr (osiomartys) as a monk or nun. That is why Saint Paraskevi, whose feast on 26 July is one of the big name days of summer, appears on saint.gr as a venerable martyr rather than a great martyr.

Many great martyrs died in the persecutions of the late third and early fourth centuries, under Diocletian and Maximian, and several were officers in the Roman army. The Synaxarion tells their lives with many wonders, which are reported here as tradition.

The soldier saints

Saint George, 23 April

According to saint.gr, Saint George was born around 275 in Cappadocia to Christian parents. After his father's martyrdom his mother took him to Palestine; he joined the Roman army at eighteen and rose to the rank of comes. In 303, at a council called by Diocletian to root out Christianity, the 28-year-old officer declared his faith in public.

The Synaxarion says that after many tortures he was beheaded, and that his servant Pasikrates carried his body to Lydda in Palestine. The story of the dragon he killed to save a king's daughter belongs to tradition.

On 23 April Giorgos and Georgia celebrate; why the feast moves to Easter Monday in some years is explained in Saint George after Easter. saint.gr's note links the name to the Greek words for “earth” and “to work”: the tiller of the land.

Saint Demetrius, 26 October

Saint Demetrius came from an aristocratic family of Thessaloniki and, according to saint.gr, already held the rank of chiliarch, commander of a thousand, at 22. He was imprisoned in 303 for ignoring the edict against the Christians. Tradition says he blessed the young Nestor before his duel with the dreaded gladiator Lyaios, and that after Nestor's victory both were put to death, most probably in 306.

His encomiasts write that his tomb became a deep well flowing with myrrh, hence his epithet Myrovlytis, “Myrrh-streamer”. In icons he often rides a red horse, while Saint George rides a white one. On 26 October Dimitris and Dimitra celebrate; for his role as protector of Thessaloniki, see the guide to patron saints of Greek cities.

The two Saints Theodore

Two great martyrs are named Theodore, and they are often painted together, standing or on horseback. Theodore Stratelates, “the general”, came from Euchaita and lived at Heraclea on the Black Sea. When Licinius pressed him to sacrifice, saint.gr writes, he asked for the gold and silver statuettes of the gods, broke them up and gave the metal to the poor; after tortures he was beheaded. He is commemorated on 8 February.

Theodore Tiron, from Amasea, owes his epithet to the tirones, the new recruits he was enlisted with. He set fire to a temple of the goddess Rhea and died in a blazing furnace; his memory falls on 17 February.

Tiron is also behind a movable feast. According to saint.gr, when Julian the Apostate had the food in the market sprinkled with the blood of pagan sacrifices during the first week of Lent, the saint appeared in a dream to Archbishop Eudoxius and told the Christians to eat boiled wheat, kollyva, instead. The Church recalls this on the first Saturday of Lent, the main name day of Thodoris (Theodoros, Theodore); in 2027 it falls on 20 March.

Other soldiers and officials

• [Saint Menas](saint:minas), [11 November](date:11-11): an Egyptian cavalryman at Kotyaeion in Asia Minor who left the army to live as an ascetic and, at about fifty, confessed Christ in public; he was beheaded, probably in 304. Name day of Minas.
• [Saint Artemius](saint:artemios), [20 October](date:10-20): Duke of Alexandria, who in 357 brought the relics of the Apostle Andrew from Patras to Constantinople; later he rebuked Julian the Apostate at Antioch and was beheaded. Name day of Artemios and of Artemis.
• [Saint Eustathius](saint:efstathios), [20 September](date:9-20): a Roman officer named Placidas who, saint.gr says, came to believe when he saw a cross between the antlers of a stag he was hunting; in 117 he died with his wife and two sons inside a red-hot bronze bull. Name day of Efstathios (Stathis) and Efstathia.

Saint Panteleimon the healer

Saint Panteleimon is called great martyr and iamatikos, “healer”. According to saint.gr he lived in Nicomedia under Maximian (286–305), studied medicine with Euphrosynus and was baptised by the priest Hermolaus. His original name was Panteleon; tradition says that at his execution a voice from heaven called him Panteleimon, and that the executioner's sword bent and melted like wax. The name breaks down into pas, “all”, and eleimon, “merciful”: the one who has mercy on all. Pantelis (Panteleimon) celebrates on 27 July.

Saint Phanourios and the fanouropita

Saint Phanourios became known only in the 14th century, saint.gr writes, when his icon, framed by twelve scenes of his martyrdom, was found among the ruins of old houses on Rhodes; Metropolitan Nilus of Rhodes read the name on it and rebuilt the church. His feast is on 27 August. On the eve the faithful bake the fanouropita, a small round cake shared out so that the saint will “reveal” something lost, or health to someone who is ill; saint.gr links the name to the verb faino, “to reveal”. Fanourios and Fanouria celebrate that day.

The women great martyrs

Several of the most common women's names come from great martyrs. Their stories are told in the guide to names of female saints; in brief:

• [Saint Catherine](saint:aikaterini), [25 November](date:11-25): an educated noblewoman of Alexandria who, according to saint.gr, silenced the orators summoned to change her mind and was beheaded in 304. Name day of Katerina (Aikaterini).
• [Saint Barbara](saint:varvara), [4 December](date:12-4): her pagan father kept her shut in a tower and killed her himself; in Greece she was adopted as patron of the artillery in 1828. Name day of Varvara.
• [Saint Irene](saint:eirini), [5 May](date:5-5): her original name was Penelope. Name day of Eirini.
• [Saint Kyriaki](saint:kyriaki), [7 July](date:7-7): named after the day she was born, Sunday (Kyriaki). Name day of Kyriaki.
• [Saint Marina](saint:marina), [17 July](date:7-17): born around 270 in Antioch of Pisidia; her relics are now kept in a church of hers in Athens. Name day of Marina.
• [Saint Christina](saint:christina), [24 July](date:7-24): daughter of the general Urban of Tyre. Name day of Christina.
• Also [Saint Euphemia](saint:efimia) on 16 September and 11 July, [Saint Anastasia](saint:anastasia) the Deliverer from Potions on 22 December, and [Saint Xenia](saint:s-0503-xenia-megalomartys) of Kalamata on 3 May.

Men's names and women's names

A great martyr's day is not only for the identical name. The women's names formed from the soldier saints' names, such as Georgia, Dimitra, Efstathia and Fanouria, celebrate with them. It also works the other way: Kyriakos and Marinos have saints of their own, on 29 September and 2 June, but also celebrate with Saint Kyriaki and Saint Marina.

Sometimes two great martyrs share a date: on 25 November, together with Saint Catherine, the Church honours the soldier Saint Mercurius, the name day of Merkourios. Anastasia, for her part, also celebrates on Easter Sunday. See also the biggest name days of the year.

Dates follow the new calendar of the Church of Greece. Communities that keep the old calendar celebrate fixed feasts 13 days later; Saint Demetrius, for example, on 8 November.