Diomedes was one of the Holy Unmercenaries, an epithet¹ applied to a number of early Christians who did things like care for the sick without charging for their services.
He was ordered arrested by the Eastern Roman Emperor Diocletian and along the way, Diomedes stopped to pray and fell dead. The soldiers, being mindful of the inconvenience of carrying a dead body to the emperor to prove that they had completed their mission, decided to make things somewhat simpler for themselves by cutting off Diomedes’ head and taking only that as proof.
But on presenting the head to the emperor, such a profusion of blood poured forth that the emperor sent them away and the bleeding only stopped once they reunited the head with the body.
- Usually, “epithet” is used to describe a derogatory nickname, and its entirely possible that in this case, “Holy Unmercenaries” was meant in a derogatory fashion when it was applied to these Christians, but I love the idea of an epithet becoming something embraced and considered a compliment in its stead. The use of this word in the Wikipedia article on Diomedes along with the term “Holy Unmercenaries” was enough for me to pick him as today’s artistic subject.
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