medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The martyrs Nicander and Hermaeus (also Hermas, Hermes) are saints of Myra in Lycia with a legendary metaphrastic Passio (BHG 2295) preserved in a single eleventh-century manuscript (as of a few decades ago this text had not been edited; I haven't checked to see whether that's still the case). According to a related Byzantine synaxary notice, Nicander was bishop of Myra; he and the priest Hermaeus had been ordained by the apostle Titus in his capacity as bishop of Crete. Their zealous proselytizing is said to have caused them to be denounced to a governor Libanius, after which they underwent a lengthy series of nasty torments before being executed (presumably in the later first or early second century). Entered under this day (4. November) in medieval Greek-language and Syriac-language calendars, they are absent from the martyrologies of the medieval Latin West. Today is their feast day in Byzantine-Rite churches and their day of commemoration in the Roman Martyrology.
Nicander of Myra (at right; at left, a figure identified as St. Pancras of Taormina) as depicted in a seemingly twelfth-century fresco in the church of Sts. Jason and Sosipater in Anemomilos / Anemomylos on Corfu:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7549203@N04/4632660373/
Best,
John Dillon
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