Icon of Saint Prochoros the Deacon – S435

Description

Saint Prochoros was among the Seventy Apostles chosen by Christ to spread His Gospel.  He was also chosen by the Twelve Apostles as one of the first seven deacons of the Church, as “men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3).  He was a companion of Saint Peter for some time and was consecrated as Bishop of Nicomedia by him, where he served to convert many.  After the Theotokos Virgin Mary fell asleep in the Lord soon after a.d. 52, Saint Prochoros became a companion and fellow worker with Saint John the Beloved Disciple in Asia Minor, and was banished with him to the Island of Patmos.

Saint Prochoros wrote down Revelation, what has come to us as the last book of the New Testament.  Saint John dictated it to him while Saint John beheld all the events right then by Christ’s revelation about the final times of this world.  This is why Saint John’s Gospel and Epistles are in a different style of Greek from Revelation.  Saint Prochoros returned from exile first to Nicomedia, and then went to Antioch where he preached and taught, finally receiving a martyr’s crown.  He is shown in this icon carrying a censer and a church.