Martyr Polyeuktos of Melitene

Polyeuktos was a Roman soldier of Melitene in Armenia, honored as the first person to be martyred for Christ in that city. The accounts place his life in the mid-third century: he served as a soldier under the emperor Decius (249-251) and suffered death in the persecution of Valerian (253-259), traditionally dated to about the year 259. Though he led an upright life, he remained a pagan until shortly before his death.

His conversion is attributed to his close friendship with Nearchus, a fellow-soldier and a firm Christian. According to the tradition, when the persecution of Christians began, Nearchus warned Polyeuktos that they would soon be parted, fearing his pagan friend would fall away. Polyeuktos answered that he had seen Christ in a dream, in which the Savior took from him his soiled military cloak and clothed him in a radiant garment, and he declared himself ready to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

Filled with zeal, Polyeuktos went into the city square, tore up the imperial edict that required everyone to worship the idols, and destroyed the idols set up there. His own father-in-law, Felix, a magistrate charged with enforcing the decrees, pronounced the sentence of death. Neither the grief of Felix nor the weeping of his wife Paulina, who urged him to renounce Christ, moved him, and he was beheaded. By tradition his friend Nearchus recorded the account of his martyrdom.