3rd century
Saint Isidore of Chios
Martyr who suffered on Chios.
Biography
Isidore was a sailor in the imperial fleet from Alexandria, in the time of Decius. When the fleet anchored at Chios, he was denounced as a Christian to the admiral Numerius and confessed his faith himself.
His father hurried to Chios and begged him to renounce Christ, but Isidore would not yield; his father then angrily urged Numerius himself to have him killed. After torture Isidore was beheaded, and his body was thrown into a ravine to be eaten by birds.
A Christian woman, Myrope, recovered it secretly at night and buried it; when Numerius found out, she confessed so that the guards would not be unjustly punished. According to tradition, the trees of Chios wept for Isidore, an event later linked to the island's mastic resin; part of his relics were later transferred to Venice.