4th century
Saint Neophytus the Martyr
Young martyr of Nicaea.
Biography
Neophytus was born in Nicaea in Bithynia to pious parents, Theodore and Florentia, in the time of Diocletian. From an early age he withdrew to Mount Olympus and lived as an ascetic in a cave, with brief visits to his parents in Nicaea.
When the emperor sent the harsh governor Maximus to Bithynia to persecute Christians, Neophytus, only fifteen years old, was guided, according to tradition, by an angel to come forward and confess his faith, so as to strengthen the persecuted Christians.
Maximus had him flogged, thrown into a cauldron of boiling water and then to wild beasts, and finally put to death by the sword around 290.