Isidore of Chios

Infobox Saint
name=Isidore of Chios
birth_date=
death_date=251
feast_day=May 14
venerated_in=


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birth_place=Alexandria (?)
death_place=Chios
titles=martyr
beatified_date=
beatified_place=
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canonized_date=
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attributes=
patronage=sailors
major_shrine=
suppressed_date=
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Isidore of Chios was a faithful Christian who fell victim on the island of Chios in 251 under the persecutions ordered by the Roman emperor Decius.

Life and martyrdom

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

An 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 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 400s 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.

External links and sources

* http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/may/14th.cfm
* http://web.archive.org/web/20040620135010/http://saintgeorge.org/news_and_events/church_calendar/saint_of_the_day/05may/may_14_saint_isidore_of_chios.php