The Persecution at Nicomedia
Nicomedia, in the region of Bithynia in Asia Minor, was Diocletian's chief residence and home to a large Christian population. After a fire broke out at the imperial court, pagans accused Christians of having set it, and the persecution intensified with great ferocity across the communities of Bithynia. Pagan altars were reportedly set up in the marketplaces, requiring sacrifice before any commerce could be conducted.
The Orthodox tradition records that as many as twenty thousand Christians perished when they were burned inside a church in Nicomedia. Among the many martyrs of this period associated with the city were Dorotheus, Mardonius, Migdonius, Peter, Indes, and Gorgonius, who died by various means; the virgin-martyr Domna, a former pagan priestess, and Euthymius, who died while seeking to bury the bodies of the martyrs; and the soldier Zeno, stoned and beheaded after openly denouncing the emperor.
Arrest and Death
While Anthimus was in hiding at Omana, a letter of encouragement he had sent was, according to one account, intercepted; the deacon Theophilus who carried it died under torture without disclosing the bishop's location. The authorities nevertheless discovered Anthimus's whereabouts. When the soldiers sent to arrest him found him, he made himself known and insisted they carry out their orders rather than return to the emperor having been deceived. By tradition he received the soldiers hospitably, and is said to have converted and baptized them on the journey. He was tortured and put to death by beheading.
Dating
The traditional date of Anthimus's martyrdom is 303, under Diocletian. Some scholars, however, note that a fragmentary letter attributed to the priest Lucian of Antioch, who was imprisoned in 311-312 under Maximinus Daia, refers to Anthimus's martyrdom as recent, which has been taken to suggest the death may instead belong to the persecution under Maximinus. The matter remains unresolved, and may reflect a conflation of distinct phases of persecution.
