Phileas of Thmuis

<span class="date">d.306</span>. Martyr and first known bishop of Thmuis, Lower Egypt. Of noble birth and great wealth, he held important civil offices before his conversion. Imprisoned during Diocletian's* persecution with three other Egyptian bishops, he addressed a protest to Melitius of Lycopolis whose adherents had invaded their dioceses. Tried before the prefect, Culcianos, he was executed at Alexandria, in company with a Roman official, Philoromus. The <em>Acta</em> of his trial and a letter to his people written in prison survive.<br /><br />