Procopius of Scythopolis

Procopius of Scythopolis (; died 7 July 303) was a 4th-century martyr who is venerated as a saint. He was a reader and exorcist in the church at Scythopolis; he also was famous as an ascetic and erudite theologian. Eusebius wrote that Procopius was sent with his companions from Scythopolis to Caesarea Maritima, where he was decapitated.

Accounts

The earliest surviving account of Procopius is that of Eusebius of Caesarea in his Martyrs of Palestine, composed in the early 4th century. According to Eusebius, Procopius was originally from Jerusalem and lived at Scythopolis, where he led an ascetic life and served the local church as a reader, interpreter and exorcist. During the Diocletianic Persecution, he was arrested and taken with other Christians to Caesarea. When brought before the governor Flavianus, Procopius refused first to sacrifice to the gods and then to the emperors, after which he was beheaded. Eusebius identifies him as the first Christian martyr in Palestine during the persecution.

Procopius's story was subsequently expanded in later hagiography. The Greek Martyrdom of Prokopios known as BHG 1576, probably composed in the late 4th or 5th century, developed Eusebius's brief account into a much longer narrative of his trial and execution. It retained Procopius's identity as a reader and exorcist but added extended theological debates, elaborate tortures and miraculous events, including the paralysis of an executioner and Procopius's miraculous healing while imprisoned. Modern scholarship regards these additions as later literary developments rather than historically reliable information about Procopius.

A still later recension, BHG 1577, probably composed between the 5th and 8th centuries, substantially recast Procopius as a military saint. In this version he begins life as a pagan aristocrat named Neanias, whose mother Theodosia presents him to Emperor Diocletian. Neanias is appointed dux of Alexandria and ordered to persecute Christians. While travelling with his soldiers, he experiences a vision in which Christ appears to him in the form of a cross. After his conversion, he commissions a cross and later leads his soldiers against Saracen raiders, whom the account claims he defeated with 6,000 enemy dead and no losses among his own men. His mother subsequently denounces him to the emperor after learning of his Christianity. Neanias is arrested and tortured, and during his imprisonment Christ appears to him and gives him the name Procopius. This recension omits the earlier tradition that Procopius had been a reader and exorcist, which was incompatible with the new military biography. Scholars have suggested that the Neanias conversion narrative was a literary creation drawing on models including the conversions of Paul the Apostle and Constantine the Great.

In Scythopolis a chapel was dedicated in his honor. In Caesarea Maritima Roman Emperor Zeno erected a church dedicated in his honor in AD 484. His relics were translated to the Church of Saint Michael in Antioch, Syria. In Constantinople four churches were dedicated in his honor.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, he is remembered in the marriage dismissal.