Martyr 4th century

Martyr Sozon of Cilicia

died 304

Also known as Sozon the Shepherd

A shepherd of Cilicia who broke a golden idol to give to the poor and was burned for Christ under Maximian (304)

Feast Day

September 7

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Commemorated as

The Holy Martyr Sozon of Cilicia

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Life

Sozon was a shepherd of Cilicia in Asia Minor who was martyred for Christ in the early fourth century, traditionally during the persecution under the emperor Maximian. According to the synaxarion, he was originally a pagan named Tarasios and received the name Sozon at his baptism. He is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on September 7.

By tradition Sozon was a shepherd from Lycaonia who, while tending his flock, marveled at the meekness of his sheep and applied himself attentively to the reading of the Holy Scriptures. The accounts relate that one day, while watering his flock at a spring, he fell asleep beneath an oak tree and received a vision foretelling his coming martyrdom.

The decisive event of his life, as recorded in the synaxarion, was his entering a temple of the idolaters, where he broke off the right hand of a golden statue with his shepherd's crook, smashed it into small pieces, and distributed them to the poor. When the act caused unrest and innocent people were arrested, Sozon, unwilling that others should suffer in his place, presented himself to the authorities and confessed that he alone had broken the idol.

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Martyrdom

Having confessed before the governor, Sozon was subjected to severe tortures. The accounts describe him being suspended and torn with iron implements and beaten with iron rods until his bones were broken, and they relate that he gave up his spirit to God in the midst of these torments. His death is traditionally placed in the year 304.

By tradition, the soldiers attempted to burn his body, but a storm of thunder, lightning, rain, and hail extinguished the fire and preserved his relics, which Christians then recovered and buried with honor. A church was later built near the spring where he had received his vision, and the synaxarion relates that it became a site of many miracles.

Veneration

Saint Sozon is venerated as the patron of the island of Lemnos, where tradition holds that he came to be honored as protector of the island between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, succeeding an earlier patron. Lemnian sailors in particular regarded him as their protector at sea.

The principal site of his veneration on Lemnos is a chapel in the village of Skandali, beside a spring of fresh water near sea level. A major festival is held there each September 7, kept also by Lemnian communities abroad.

Sources: Synaxarion