John (1) of Eleutheropolis
soldier and martyr at Eleutheropolis
Feast: 17 December (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
At Eleutheropolis in Palestine, the passion of the fifty holy soldiers, martyrs, who, in the time of the emperor Heraclius, were killed for their faith in Christ by the Saracens who were besieging Gaza.
Among those named is Saint John, of the cohort of the Scythians.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
The Roman Martyrology remembers him on 17 December among fifty soldiers at Eleutheropolis in Palestine who were killed for their faith in Christ by the Saracens besieging Gaza.
- Roman Martyrology, 17 December (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Re4e4f86d — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.