The life of St Artemon of Laodicea
When Diocletian ordered every citizen to sacrifice to the gods, Artemon and his bishop went into the temple of Artemis together and broke the idols there.
The tradition the Church keeps of what followed is this. The officer sent to punish the city, Patricius, found Artemon on the road, walking with six wild donkeys and two deer that obeyed his word. Learning who he was, Patricius had him seized and taken toward Caesarea, but Artemon first sent the animals back to Bishop Sisinnius with word of his arrest, and one of the deer spoke to carry the message.
At Caesarea, Patricius tried to force Artemon to sacrifice in the temple of Asclepius, a shrine so full of venomous vipers that even its own priest would not go inside. Artemon went in calling on the name of Christ, and the snakes did him no harm, so that the priest there, Vitalius, believed and asked for baptism. Patricius, certain this was sorcery, tortured Artemon again and then had a cauldron of boiling pitch prepared for him. As Patricius rode up to see whether it was ready, two angels in the form of eagles seized him instead and cast him into it, so that he was consumed there and Artemon stood by unharmed.
Artemon then gave thanks to God, and at his prayer a spring of water rose from the ground. He used it to baptize Vitalius and the many pagans who had come to believe, and some of the newly baptized were afterward ordained. He went on from there to preach in Asia Minor, and there, in the end, the pagans took his head.
