Honorific Prefix: | Saint |
Basiliscus of Comana | |
Death Place: | Comana, Pontus (modern-day Gümenek, Tokat, Turkey) |
Venerated In: | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
Canonized By: | Pre-congregation |
Feast Day: | 22 May or 30 July (Greek calendar) |
Basiliscus of Comana (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Βασιλίσκος; died), also known as Basiliscus of Pontus, was a Greek martyr. His feast day is 22 May, or 30 July in the Greek calendar.
The story of Basilicus is an example of an itinerant martyrdom. He was arrested in Amasia in Pontus, but was allowed to go to the village of Choumiala to see his family before returning to Amasya for trial. He was then taken to the village of Dakozara before being martyred outside Comana. He is associated with the martyrs Eutropius and Cleonicus during his journey, in which he was followed by a crowd and performed various miracles.
Another version says Basiliscus, Bishop of Comana, was decapitated around 312 at Nicomedia by the tyrant Maximinus Daza (r. 310–313). The biography of John Chrysostom says that Basiliscus, Bishop of Comana, was martyred under Maximian (r. 286–305).
The Monks of Ramsgate wrote in their Book of Saints (1921),
The Roman Martyrology says, under The Twenty-Second Day of May,
The hagiographer Alban Butler wrote in his Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints under May 22,