Holy Great Martyr Nicetas the Goth

Life

By descent a Goth; a disciple of Bishop Theophilus of Gothia, who participated in the First Ecumenical Council. When the Gothic Prince Athanaric began to persecute Christians, Saint Nicetas stood before the prince and denounced him for his godlessness and inhumanity. Tortured with terrible torments, Nicetas ever more boldly confessed the faith of Christ and prayed to God with thanksgiving. And he kept his mind unceasingly lifted up and immersed in God, and upon his breast beneath his garment he carried an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos with the Pre-eternal Christ Child, standing and holding a cross in His hands. Saint Nicetas carried this icon because the Most Holy Theotokos had appeared to him and comforted him. At last the tormentor cast the soldier of Christ into the fire, in which the holy martyr breathed his last, but his body remained unharmed by the fire. His friend Marianus transferred his body from the Gothic land (Wallachia and Bessarabia) to Cilicia, to the city of Mopsuestia, where he built a church dedicated to Saint Nicetas and placed in it the wonderworking relics of the martyr. He suffered and was glorified in the year 372.

From the Hymn of Praise

A true patriot is he who in his own nationBuilds a living altar to the Living Lord.Athanaric the Goth ruled by violence,And to dead idols brought sacrifices;