Feastday: April 22
Patron: of Large Families
Death: 202
Martyred father of Origen. A noted scholar in his own right, Leonides was imprisoned in Alexandria, Egypt, and was beheaded.
Origen, son of Leonides
St. Leonides of Alexandria (Greek: Λεωνίδης) was a Christian martyr who lived in the 2nd and early 3rd centuries AD.
Biography
According to the Christian historian Eusebius, Leonides' son was the early Church father Origen. In the same passage Eusebius tells us that Leonides was martyred during the persecution of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus in the year 202 AD.
Condemned to death by the Egyptian prefect Lactus, he was beheaded, and his property seized.
Family
The name of Leonides' wife is unknown, but she bore at least six children after Origen.
Porphyry, a Neoplatonist, claims Origen's parents were pagans.
Leonides catechized his children well. Origen attempted to follow his father in martyrdom, but he was detained by his mother - it is said that she hid his clothes so that Origen could not leave the house.
Feast
The Catholic feast of Leonides is celebrated on April 22.
