Saint Polyeucte
Martyr à Mélitène (+ 250)
Légionnaire romain,
décapité en Arménie pour sa foi chrétienne alors qu'il n'était encore que
catéchumène. Il reçut ainsi le "baptême de sang". Corneille reprit
les "Actes" de son martyre pour en faire une tragédie qui est
conforme à la vérité historique.
Polyeucte et Néarque:
officiers de la douzième légion romaine en Arménie. Néarque était chrétien et
son ami Polyeucte encore païen. La persécution devait les séparer. Mais alors
la foi les unit. Ils furent arrêtés, parce qu'il était demandé aux soldats de
sacrifier l'encens à l'empereur. Pauline, l'épouse de Polyeucte, le poussait à
renier Jésus-Christ. Néarque et lui furent décapités. Une tragédie de Corneille
perpétue ce combat de la foi.
À Mélitène en Arménie,
vers 250, saint Polyeucte, martyr. Soldat obligé de sacrifier aux dieux par
l’édit de l’empereur Dèce, il brisa les idoles, subit pour cela de multiples
supplices et enfin, décapité, fut baptisé dans son sang.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/633/Saint-Polyeucte.html
Saint Polyeucte naquit
à Mélitène en Arménie cappadocienne. Il était soldat sous l' empereur Dèce (
249-251 ) et souffrit le martyre sous l' empereur Valérien ( 253-259 ).
Il était l'ami de Néarque
à qui il promit de devenir chrétien. Après la parution des édits ordonnant aux
militaires de sacrifier aux idoles, il refusa d'abjurer. Son beau-père
Félix dut lui-même appliquer la sentence impériale. Il lui permit de
prendre congé, avant son exécution, de ses enfants et de Pauline sa femme.
Ceux-ci le supplièrent d'apostasier, mais il resta ferme dans la foi au Christ
ressuscité.
Il tendit le cou à l'épée...Il
est tant en Orient (fêté le 9 janvier chez les orthodoxes) qu' en Occident le
patron des chrétiens fidèles à leurs voeux.
Sous Constantin, une
église fut construite à Mélitène (aujourd'hui en Turquie) ainsi qu' un
monastère ( martyrium ). Saint Euthyme le Grand pria sur sa tombe avant de
partir pour la Palestine. Mélitène devint une grande ville chrétienne.
En 527 à Constantinople
on construisit une magnifique église en son honneur. Saint Grégoire de Tours le
vénérait spécialement.
Pierre Corneille écrivit
en 1641 une célèbre pièce de théâtre sur la vie de ce martyr.
SOURCE : http://ut-pupillam-oculi.over-blog.com/article-5627184.html
Saint
Polyeucte dans le Ménologe de Basile II
Полиевкт
Мелитинский, мч. Константинополь. 985 г. Миниатюра Минология Василия II. Ватиканская
библиотека. Рим.
Profile
Pagan soldier in
the 12th imperial Roman legion assigned to Armenia in the 3rd century.
Friend of Saint Nearchus who
brought him to the faith.
Ordered to offer a sacrifice of incense to the emperor as a god, Polyeucte
refused. Martyr.
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
MLA
Citation
‘Saint Polyeucte‘. CatholicSaints.Info.
20 February 2020. Web. 24 May 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-polyeucte/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-polyeucte/
Article
(Saint) Martyr (February
13) (3rd
century) A Roman officer (probably of Greek parentage)
in Armenia.
He became a convert to Christianity,
and on that account was beheaded,
either under Decius (A.D. 250),
or under Velerian (A.D. 259).
His Acts, as given by Metaphrastes, are as touching as any in early Christian literature.
The personages introduced by the French poet,
Corneille, into his tragedy of Polyeucte (Pauline, the Martyr‘s
wife, Nearque, his friend, etc.) are historical.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Polyeucte”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
2 December 2016. Web. 24 May 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-polyeucte/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-polyeucte/
Polyeuctus of Melitene M
(RM)
Died January 10, c.
250-259. Saint Polyeuctus, a wealthy Roman officer, was martyred at Melitene,
Armenia, under Valerian. His acta, as given by Metaphrastes, are as touching as
any in early Christian literature. His friend Nearchus was so zealous in his desire
to lay down his life for Christ when he heard the Christian persecution was to
reach the outposts of the Empire, that Polyeuctus was converted to the faith
and openly professed it. He was, of course, captured and condemned to be
tortured. When his tormentors were weary, they turned to argumentation to
persuade him to apostatize. Most men would have been moved by the distress of
their families. But tears and protestations of his wife Paulina, his children,
and his father-in-law Felix were insufficient move this new Christian. Finally
the sentence of death was passed by the judge, which Polyeuctus greeted with
such cheerfulness and joy that many were converted as he travelled to the place
of his beheading.
The Christians buried him
in Melitene. Nearchus gathered his blood in a cloth, and afterwards wrote his
acta. The Greeks keep his festival very solemnly, and all the Latin
martyrologies mention him. Saint Euthymius often prayed in a famous church of
St. Polyeuctus at Melitene. The stately church bearing his name in
Constantinople, under Justinian, the vault of which was covered with plates of
gold, in which it was the custom for men to make their most solemn oaths, as is
related by Saint Gregory of Tours. The same author informs us, in his history
of the Franks, that the kings of France confirmed their treaties by the name of
Polyeuctus.
Saint Jerome's
Martyrology and the most ancient Armenian calendars place Polyeuctus's feast on
January 7; while the Greeks celebrate in on January 9. Nevertheless, his feast
is marked on February 13 in the ancient martyrology, which was sent from Rome
to Aquileia in the eighth century, and which is copied by Ado, Usuard, and the
Roman Martyrology. Corneille has used some elements of the martyr's story in
his tragedy Polyeucte (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0213.shtml
Martyr Polyeuctus of Melitene,
in Armenia
Saint Polyeuctus was the
first martyr in the Armenian city of Meletine. He was a soldier under the
emperor Decius (249-251) and he later suffered for Christ under the emperor
Valerian (253-259). The saint was friend also of Nearchos, a fellow-soldier and
firm Christian, but Polyeuctus, though he led a virtuous life, remained a
pagan.
When the persecution
against Christians began, Nearchos said to Polyeuctus, “Friend, we shall soon
be separated, for they will take me to torture, and you alas, will renounce
your friendship with me.” Polyeuctus told him that he had seen Christ in a
dream, Who took his soiled military cloak from him and dressed him in a radiant
garment. “Now,” he said, “I am prepared to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Enflamed with zeal, St
Polyeuctus went to the city square, and tore up the edict of Decius which
required everyone to worship idols. A few moments later, he met a procession
carrying twelve idols through the streets of the city. He dashed the idols to
the ground and trampled them underfoot.
His father-in-law, the
magistrate Felix, who was responsible for enforcing the imperial edict, was
horrified at what St Polyeuctus had done and declared that he had to die for
this. “Go, bid farewell to your wife and children,” said Felix. Paulina came
and tearfully entreated her husband to renounce Christ. His father-in-law Felix
also wept, but St Polyeuctus remained steadfast in his resolve to suffer for
Christ.
With joy he bent his head
beneath the sword of the executioner and was baptized in his own blood. Soon,
when the Church of Christ in the reign of St Constantine had triumphed
throughout all the Roman Empire, a church was built at Meletine in honor of the
holy Martyr Polyeuctus. Many miracles were worked through the intercession of
St Polyeuctus. In this very church the parents of St Euthymius the Great
(January 20) prayed fervently for a son. The birth of this great luminary of
Orthodoxy in the year 376 occurred through the help of the holy Martyr
Polyeuctus.
St Polyeuctus was also
venerated by St Acacius, Bishop of Meletine (March 31), a participant in the
Third Ecumenical Council, and a great proponent of Orthodoxy. In the East, and
also in the West, the holy Martyr Polyeuctus is venerated as a patron saint of
vows and treaty agreements.
The Polyeucte Overture of
French composer Paul Dukas is only one of many pieces of classical music
inspired by the saints. It premiered in January of 1892. French dramatist
Pierre Corneille has also written a play, Polyeucte (1642), based on the
martyr’s life.
.jpg){kind=link}