The Holy Martyrs Theopemptus and Theona suffered in Nicomedia in 303. Saint Theopemptus was bishop of Nicomedia under Diocletian. Speaking out against idolatry, he defended the faith of Christ. Summoned to the king, he refused to comply with his demand to worship the idol of Apollo. Saint Theopemptus was thrown into a red-hot furnace, but by the power of God he remained alive. At night, the king and a group of soldiers went to the furnace and there he really saw the saint alive and praying to God. Attributing the miracle to the action of sorcery, Diocletian ordered Saint Theopemptus to be starved and thirsty for 22 days, but even then, by the will of God, the martyr was saved.
Then the king summoned the famous magician Theona, who undertook to break the "spell" that they assumed the holy bishop Theopempt possessed. Theona prepared poison for Saint Theopemptus, embedded in a flatbread, and invited him to eat it. The poison did not harm Saint Theopemptus at all. Theon experienced the effects of an even more powerful poison on the martyr for the second time, but seeing that Saint Theopemptus remained unharmed, he himself believed in Christ. He was thrown into prison along with the holy bishop, who pronounced him and baptized him, giving him the name Synesius (which means "full of reason").
In the morning, Diocletian called Saint Theopemptus and again urged him to renounce Christ, but seeing the inflexible firmness of the holy man, he gave him many and severe torments, after which the saint was beheaded. The holy Martyr Theon, who refused to sacrifice to idols, was buried alive in a deep ditch. This happened in Nicomedia in 303.