Martyr 4th century

Martyrs Diodorus Didymus, and Diomedes of Laodicea

Also known as Diodorus · Didymus · Diomedes

Three Christians of Laodicea who were flogged to death for confessing Christ.

Feast Day
September 11
Draft
Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.
Commemorated as

The Holy Martyrs Diodorus, Didymus, and Diomedes of Laodicea

Life

Diodorus, Didymus, and Diomedes were three Christians of Laodicea who, according to the synaxarion, were put to death for confessing Christ during the fourth century. They are commemorated together as a group on September 11, and the tradition preserves little about them beyond the city of their origin and the manner of their death.

By the account followed in the Orthodox synaxaria, the three were natives of Laodicea and suffered in that same city. Sources record that they spread the Christian faith and, on being seized for their confession, were subjected to severe scourging, dying as a result of the flogging. No detailed narrative of their interrogation or of an individual martyr has been handed down, and they are remembered chiefly as a named trio of confessors.

The city called Laodicea is variously located by sources: the Orthodox Church in America records the three simply as 'of Laodicea,' while other martyrologies place them at Laodicea in Syria. Their exact date is not fixed beyond the fourth century, and some Western references describe them as martyrs of unknown date, reflecting how scant the surviving record is.

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Martyrdom

The tradition is consistent on the essential point: the three confessors were flogged to death for refusing to renounce Christ. The Lives of the Saints adds that they had zealously spread the Christian faith among the pagans of their region and that, after enduring severe tortures, they died as a result of the scourging.

Because they are commemorated as a single group rather than in separate notices, the synaxaria treat Diodorus, Didymus, and Diomedes as companions in a shared confession, without distinguishing the part each played.

Notes

Named group kept as one row.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints