Martyrs of Nicomedia

The Martyrs of Nicomedia refer to a large group of Christians traditionally believed to have been killed in the Roman city of Nicomedia during the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. According to Christian tradition, thousands of Christians were killed in the city during the early fourth century after refusing to renounce their faith or offer sacrifices to the Roman gods. The events are usually connected with the final phase of the Diocletianic Persecution, often referred to by historians as the Great Persecution, the most extensive persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire prior to the legalization of Christianity under Constantine the Great.

Later Byzantine traditions describe a particularly large massacre occurring on Christmas Day in 304 AD, when a large gathering of Christians celebrating the Nativity of Jesus was reportedly killed after refusing to participate in pagan sacrificial rites. The number of victims recorded in Christian sources varies widely. Some accounts describe several thousand victims, while later liturgical texts refer to 20,000 martyrs who died in Nicomedia. Modern historians generally treat the larger number as symbolic or hagiographical rather than a precise historical count.