Artemon of Seleucia
Our Father among the Saints Artemon, first Bishop of Seleucia in Pisidia
Bishop · d. 1st–2nd century
Commemorated 24 March — Commemoration of the apostolic bishop of Seleucia
Artemon was the first bishop of Seleucia in Pisidia, ordained (the tradition holds) by the Apostle Paul during his journeys through Asia Minor. A shepherd of the apostolic age, he governed his flock with zeal, worked signs, and reposed in peace in great old age. His memory falls on the forefeast of the Annunciation.
When the Apostle Paul, passing through Pisidia, came to Seleucia, he found in Artemon a man already advanced in years and adorned with virtue, and he set him over the newly-gathered church there as its first bishop. Artemon proved a worthy successor of the apostles: he preached the Gospel, cared for the poor and the captives, and, the synaxarion says, was granted the gift of healing and of casting out unclean spirits. Having shepherded his people through the first trials of the young Church, he fell asleep in peace at a great age. He is one of the apostolic-age hierarchs of Asia Minor whose memory the Church preserves at the threshold of the Annunciation.
Feast and commemoration
March 24 (church date; Old Calendar civil April 6), the forefeast of the Annunciation, within Great Lent. His memory is kept together with the festal office of the forefeast (see the Annunciation).
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a hierarch)
O God of our fathers, ever dealing with us according to Thy gentleness: take not Thy mercy from us, but by the prayers of Thy hierarch Artemon guide our life in peace.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
Artemon is depicted as a bishop in the omophorion, blessing or holding the Gospel. No pre-1900 icon of him alone has been identified for this collection.
Disputed questions
- Not to be confused with the priest-martyr Artemon of Laodicea (kept Oct 13, and in some usages this day), an elder scourged and martyred under Diocletian — a distinct saint. The synaxaria themselves sometimes conflate the two Artemons; this entry follows the notice of the apostolic bishop of Seleucia.