Martyrs Photius and Anicetus of Nicomedia

Photius and Anicetus were Christian relatives — uncle and nephew, by some accounts; cousins, by others — of Nicomedia during the persecution of Diocletian. When the imperial edict was being enforced in the city in 303, Anicetus, an officer of the imperial guard, came forward of his own accord before the emperor's tribunal and declared himself a Christian. The synaxarion records that the spectacle of his courage drew his uncle Photius from the crowd to stand beside him, and the two confessed Christ together before the emperor.

Diocletian, recognizing them as men of his own court, attempted at first to spare them through threats and promises; when these failed, he ordered them tortured publicly with calculated cruelty. They were bound in chains, scourged, and at last cast into a great furnace that had been heated in the public square. By the synaxarion's account, the fire did not consume them, and they emerged from the furnace alive, singing the songs of the three Hebrew youths from the book of Daniel. Diocletian, more enraged at the miracle than at the resistance, ordered the furnace heated again — and this time the two were crowned in the flames.

Their joint feast falls on August 12.