09/11/2026 – Життя Святих / Lives of the Saints
Св. сщмч. Автонома
Hieromartyr Autonomus
The Synaxarion (Lives of the Saints):
Saint Autonomus was a bishop who served in Italy. During the persecution of Christians under Emperor Diocletian (284–305), he left his homeland and settled in Bithynia, near Soreus, where he stayed with a Christian named Cornelius.
Saint Autonomus devoted himself wholeheartedly to preaching the Gospel. Through his efforts, many pagans came to believe in Christ, and a large Christian community was formed. He dedicated a pagan temple to the Archangel Michael and turned it into a church. He ordained Cornelius first as a deacon and later as a priest. Saint Autonomus also preached the Gospel in Lykaonia and Isauria.
When Emperor Diocletian ordered his arrest, Saint Autonomus withdrew to Claudiopolis on the Black Sea. Before leaving Soreus, he ordained Cornelius as a bishop. After traveling through Asia, Saint Autonomus returned and continued preaching Christ in the area around Limna, near Soreus.
One day, some newly converted Christians destroyed a pagan temple. In anger, the pagans decided to take revenge. They attacked the Church of the Archangel Michael while Saint Autonomus was celebrating the Divine Liturgy. They tortured the holy bishop and then killed him, spilling his blood upon the altar.
A deaconess named Maria found his body beneath the stones and reverently buried him.
During the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, a church was built over the saint’s tomb. Many years later, in 430, the church was demolished and rebuilt at another location because those who demolished it did not know that the martyr’s body lay beneath it.
About sixty years later, the incorrupt relics of Saint Autonomus were discovered. A new church was then built in his honor, where his holy relics were placed with reverence.