Holy Martyrs Theodote and Socrates the Presbyter

Sts. Theodote and Socrates (Feast Day - October 21)

Verses

To Theodote.

Theodote was beheaded by the sword,
A pure sacrifice offered to God.

To Socrates.

Socrates hastened to behold You, O Word,
Beheaded for You Socrates possesses the crown.

Saint Theodote contested during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus (222-235). The daughter of noble parents, she was from the Pontus area of the Black Sea. She went to a hermitage, and there she lived a life of quietude. Later she revealed herself to be a Christian, and was captured by the Governor of Cappadocia. Having confessed her faith in Christ, she was suspended and scraped. After this she was put in a fiery furnace.

Because she was preserved unharmed by the grace of Christ, she was delivered over to the Governor of Byzantium. Then from Byzantium she was brought to Ancyra, where Socrates the Presbyter was. When the pagan Greeks had a public feast to worship the idols, then the divine Socrates, filled with divine zeal, went and toppled the sacrificial altar on which the sacrifices were made. For this the thrice-blessed one was beheaded, and received the crown of martyrdom. Saint Theodote was also urged to sacrifice to the idols, but unpersuaded, she was struck by the sword and died, receiving from the Lord the crown of martyrdom.