Saints
“Dometius of Nisibis”
Convert from the Magi · Monk of Nisibis · Martyr under Julian
A Persian raised in the religion of the Magi who became a Christian, fled his own country for Nisibis on the Roman frontier, and became a monk. He lived at last in a cave in the mountains near Cyrrhus, healing those who came, and was stoned to death there with two of his disciples on the order of Julian the Apostate.
His life
He was born in Persia in the reign of Constantine and brought up in the religion of the Magi. He was converted by a Christian named Uarus, was baptized, and had to leave the country for it. He crossed into the Roman empire and entered the monastery of Sergius at Nisibis, and was tonsured there.
The respect he was given at Nisibis drove him out of it. He went on to a monastery near Cyrrhus in Syria under an archimandrite named Urbelus, was ordained deacon, and refused the priesthood, and when the pressure to take it continued he left for the mountains and lived in a cave.
People found him there, as they always do. The sick were brought to him and were healed, and the country people around began to be baptized in numbers.
In 362 or 363 the Emperor Julian passed through Syria on his way to the Persian war, heard that the population was going out to a hermit in the hills, and sent soldiers with orders to stop it. They found Dometius at prayer at the mouth of the cave with two disciples, and stoned all three where they stood.
Holy St. Dometius the Persian, pray to God for us.