Martyrs Evodus Callista & Hermogenes

Callista and her two brothers, Evodus and Hermogenes, were Christians of Nicomedia who suffered martyrdom together for confessing their faith in Christ. They are commemorated by the Orthodox Church on September 1, and their martyrdom is placed by tradition in the year 309, during the persecutions of the early fourth century.

According to the synaxarion, the three siblings were brought to trial before the pagan governor of Nicomedia together with other Christians of the city. When they refused to offer sacrifice to the idols and held firm in their confession of Christ, they were condemned and put to death by the sword.

Beyond their names, their kinship as sister and brothers, and the place and manner of their death, the surviving tradition preserves few biographical details. They belong to the large company of martyrs associated with Nicomedia, which under the Diocletianic persecution became one of the principal sites of suffering for Christians in Asia Minor.