Commemorated on September 7
Sozon was born in Lyconia. He was a shepherd and kept all of God’s laws, instructing his peers and friends in his pious Faith.
In a vision he was shown that he would suffer martyrdom for Christ. This was in the time of Maximian, magistrate of Cilicia, who perpetrated a terrible persecution of Chrisitans in the nearby city of Pompeiopolis.
In that city there was a certain golden idol which the pagans worshipped. Sozon left his flock, went to the city entering the pagan temple and broke the arm off the golden idol. He crumbled it into bits and distributed it to the poor. There was a great uproar because of this and the pagans sought out the guilty one.
So that no one else would suffer for his deed, Sozon went to the magistrate and declared himself to be a Christian and the perpetrator of that act. His torturers first beat him, then suspended him from a tree and scraped his body with iron combs.
When he was nearly dead, they cast him into a fire, where St. Sozon gave up his holy soul to God. He suffered in about the year 304. St. Sozon’s relics were miracle-working, and a church in his name was built over them.
Troparion & Kontakion
Troparion — Tone 4
O Martyr Sozon, you pledged your life to God, / Enduring the contest and becoming a sharer in Christ’s passion. / Save from temptation those who cry to you: / “Glory to him who strengthened you! / Glory to him who crowned you! / Glory to him who through you works healing for all!”
Kontakion — Tone 2
As we come together on this day, / let us, with loud voices, remember the true and God-bearing martyr, and athlete of piety, Sozon, / the divine initiate of grace, / the most bountiful giver of healings, / for he intercedes with God for us all.