St. Theodore the Recruit

A newly enlisted soldier at Amasea in Pontus who refused to sacrifice, was given time to think better of it, and used it to set fire to the temple of the mother of the gods. He was burned alive around 306. St Gregory of Nyssa preached his panegyric at his shrine, and it is the earliest witness to him. The Church keeps him a second time on the first Saturday of Great Lent, remembering the tradition that when Julian the Apostate had the food in the markets of Constantinople sprinkled with the blood of sacrifices, Theodore appeared to the bishop and told him to feed the people boiled wheat instead: which is why koliva is blessed that day. Feast: February 17.