Conon (2)

Conon is the name of several early Christians. SEE CONAN.

1. A martyr at Iconium, under Aurelian, is commemorated May 29 in Usuard's Martyrology, and March 5 in the Byzantine. — Smith, Dict. of Christ. Antiq. s.v.

2. A martyr under Decius, in Pamphylia, commemorated March 6. He is said in one account to have been a gardener of Nazareth, and a poor, simple, hospitable man. When told the praefect wanted him, he said, "What can he want me for, especially as I am a Christian." When bidden to sacrifice, he groaned, and wished the praefect could renounce idols and come to Christ. His ankles were pierced, and nails were driven through them, and in that state he was made to run before a chariot till he died. Another story was afterwards told of him, or perhaps of another man of the same name, in Isauria, to suit the taste of a later age. He was baptized by the chief captain Michael. He used to make the devils guard his folds, and then shut them up in casks. He taught the people to say, "There is one God, even Conon's." When he was tortured there was a rescue, and he survived two years, and died in peace (Menolog. Basil.).

3. Bishop of Edessa, who, in the year 313, laid the foundations of a church in that city, which was completed by his successor, Saades, and. enlarged by Aitallaha (Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 3:646).

4. Bishop of Apamea, who, in the Isaurian rebellion in the reign of Anastasius, A.D. 497, "left his throne, and was converted from a priest to a soldier and a general." Conon became a leader of the rebels, and was killed while besieging the town of Claudiopolis, A.D. 498.

5. Bishop of Tarsus (flourished about 601), a disciple of Joannes Philoponus, whose cause he defended in conjunction with Eugeniuls against the Eutychians, Paul and Stephen, before John, the patriarch of Constantinople. The acts of this disputation existed in the time of Photius, and were read by him. Conon subsequently disagreed with Philoponus as to the perfect equality of the three natures in the Trinity, and, separating from him, founded a new church, of which he acted as bishop. His quarrel with Philoponus led to his anathematization of his former teacher, and the publication of an Oratio Invectiva, directed against the views of Philoponus, as to the resurrection of the flesh, which Photius records having read. Photius speaks of Conon and his followers under the name of Tritheists. SEE CONONITES.

6. Abbot of Lerins, who lived about A.D. 600. Pope. Gregory wrote a letter to him on the government of his monastery, commending Conon for his vigor; ability. and excellence (Le Cointe, Ann. Eccl. Franc. 2:478).