A native of Lycaonia. He was a shepherd. From childhood he kept the law of God. In a vision he was told that he should suffer for Christ. At that time there was a persecution of Christians under Maximian, the hegemon of Cilicia. In Cilicia there was an idol of gold. Sozont left the sheep, went into the city, entered the pagan temple, broke off the hand of the idol, broke it and gave it to the poor. There was a great commotion in the city. Sozont, so that no one else would suffer because of what he had done, went to the hegemon, reported that he had broken the idol and declared himself a Christian. The torturers first beat him, then hung him on a tree and scraped him with iron brushes, and when he was about to die, they put him in the fire. He gave up his soul to the Lord around the year 304. His relics are miraculous.

Holy Apostles Evod and Onesiphorus. Holy Martyr Eupsychia. Saint John, Archbishop of Novgorod. Pre-Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos.