Isidore of Chios

Last updated
Isidore of Chios
Byzantine - Pilgrim Stamp of Saint Isidore - Walters 54230.jpg
Byzantine Pilgrim Stamp of Saint Isidore (6th Century)
martyr
Born Alexandria (?)
Died251
Chios
Feast May 14
Patronage sailors, Mollerussa

Isidore of Chios was an Egyptian Christian soldier martyred on the island of Chios in 251 during the persecutions ordered by the Roman emperor Decius. His feast day is commemorated on May 14. [1]

Contents

Life and martyrdom

His life is the subject of several versions, mainly with hagiographic aims.

An Egyptian officer in the Roman navy, Isidore confessed himself as a Christian to the commander of the fleet while they were on the Aegean island of Chios. Because he was unwilling to repent and worship the gods of the state, he was tormented and beheaded, and his body cast into a cistern. According to one legend, at this point all the trees on the south side of the island shed tears for Isidore, and this was the origin of the mastic that is still collected regularly on the island. [2]

According to tradition, his friends Ammonius and Myrope, both destined to martyrdom, would have retrieved the body and interred it properly. Later Myrope was buried beside Isidore, and on their grave miraculous recoveries were reported. There was built a chapel, and in the 5th century a church, thanking Saint Marcian. This church could be that of which a few ruins can now be admired in Chios town. St Isidore's veneration spread in all the Mediterranean sea and he became a sailors’ protector.

In 1125, his remains were brought from Chios to the Venetian Basilica of St. Mark, which contains a small chapel containing the sarchophogus.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pachomius the Great</span> Egyptian saint

Pachomius, also known as Saint Pachomius the Great, is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. Coptic churches celebrate his feast day on 9 May, and Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches mark his feast on 15 May or 28 May. In Lutheranism, he is remembered as a renewer of the church, along with his contemporary, Anthony of Egypt on 17 January.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas the Apostle</span> Early Christian saint – one of the Twelve Apostles

Thomas the Apostle, also known as Didymus, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "Doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ when he was told of it ; he later confessed his faith on seeing the places where the wounds had healed on the holy body of Jesus after the Crucifixion of Jesus. While it is often assumed he touched the wounds in art and poetry, the scriptures do not say that he touched the wounds, merely that Jesus invited him to do so, with it being unclear if he actually felt them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthias the Apostle</span> Apostle of Jesus. died circa AD 80

Matthias was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, chosen by God through the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter's betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death. His calling as an apostle is unique, in that his appointment was not made personally by Jesus, and it came before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the early Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Fabian</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 236 to 250

Pope Fabian was the bishop of Rome from 10 January 236 until his death on 20 January 250, succeeding Anterus. A dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit's unexpected choice to become the next pope. He was succeeded by Cornelius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon the Zealot</span> Apostle of Jesus

Simon the Zealot or Simon the Canaanite or Simon the Canaanean was one of the most obscure among the apostles of Jesus. A few pseudepigraphical writings were connected to him, but Jerome does not include him in De viris illustribus written between 392 and 393 AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moses the Black</span> Monk, priest and martyr in Egypt

Moses the Black, also known as Moses the Strong, Moses the Robber, and Moses the Ethiopian, was an ascetic hieromonk in Egypt in the fourth century AD, and a Desert Father. He is highly venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church. According to stories about him, he converted from a life of crime to one of asceticism. He is mentioned in Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History, written about 70 years after Moses's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John the Merciful</span>

John V Eleemon, also known as John the Almsgiver, John the Almoner, John the Compassionate, or John the Merciful, was the Chalcedonian/Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria in the early 7th century. He was born in Amathus around 560. Originally appointed by the emperor Heraclius, he later resisted attempts by the emperor to persecute the monophysites. At the end of his life he was obliged to flee back to Cyprus, where he died around 620.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jude the Apostle</span> One of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus

Jude was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is generally identified as Thaddeus and is also variously called Judas Thaddaeus, Jude Thaddaeus, Jude of James, or Lebbaeus. He is sometimes identified with Jude, the brother of Jesus, but is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus prior to his crucifixion. Catholic writer Michal Hunt suggests that Judas Thaddaeus became known as Jude after early translators of the New Testament from Greek into English sought to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and subsequently abbreviated his forename. Most versions of the New Testament in languages other than English and French refer to Judas and Jude by the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

Apr. 30 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

May 9 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 11

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

May 13 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 15

St. Isidore or Saint-Isidore may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isidore of Pelusium</span>

Isidore of Pelusium was born in Egypt to a prominent Alexandrian family. He became an ascetic, and moved to a mountain near the city of Pelusium, in the tradition of the Desert Fathers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isidore the Laborer</span> 11th and 12th-century Spanish farmer and saint

Isidore the Laborer, also known as Isidore the Farmer, was a Spanish farmworker known for his piety toward the poor and animals. He is the Catholic patron saint of farmers, and of Madrid; El Gobernador, Jalisco; La Ceiba, Honduras; and of Tocoa, Honduras. His feast day is celebrated on 15 May.

Leonard of Chios was a Greek scholar of the Dominican Order and Latin Archbishop of Mytilene, best known for his eye-witness account of the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, which is one of the main sources for the event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Stratelates</span> Early 4th century Christian martyr and saint

Theodore Stratelates, also known as Theodore of Heraclea, was a martyr and warrior saint in the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">October 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

October 13 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - October 15

<span class="mw-page-title-main">November 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span> Day in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar

November 28 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - November 30

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Mercurius</span> Greek soldier and martyr (224/225–250)

Mercurius was a Roman soldier of Scythian descent who became a Christian saint and martyr. He was born in the city of Eskentos in Cappadocia, in Eastern Asia Minor. According to Christian tradition, he was the soldier who killed Julian the apostate during his campaign in Persia. Saint Mercurius was also widely known by his Arabic-language name Abu-Sayfain, Abu-Sifin or Abu-Sefein in Egyptian Arabic which means "father of two swords", referring to the second sword given to him by the Archangel Michael.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">December 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span> Day in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar

December 1 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - December 3

References

  1. (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος ὁ Μάρτυρας ἐν Χίῳ. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
  2. Victoria Finlay, Color

3. The Basiica of St. Mark in Venice, edited by Etore Vio. (1999)