St Nonnus

Saint Nonnus
St Nonnus prays for St Pelagia amongst her courtesans, in a 14th-century manuscript
Bishop
Died	late 4th century
Feast	December 2

Nonnus (Greek: Νόννος, Nónnos) was legendary 4th- or 5th-centuryChristian saint, said to have been an Egyptian monk who became a bishop in Syria and was responsible for the conversion of St Pelagia the harlot during one of the Synods of Antioch. His feast day is observed on December 2.

The name Nonnus was a Levantine one, with eight of the nine Nonni listed in the Acts of the councils of Chalcedon and Ephesus from that area. Some claim it to be a latinization or hellenization of an Egyptian title equivalent to "saint".

A hagiography of St Pelagia attributed to James or Jacob (Latin: Jacobus), deacon of the church of Heliopolis (modern Baalbek), states that Nonnus was "a perfect monk" from Tabenna or "Tabennesum" in Egypt who, "by reason of his virtuous life", became bishop of Heliopolis, converting "all its inhabitants" and baptizing 30 000 Arabs. A church council in Antioch was passed by the entourage of the town's most famous courtesan Margarita ("Pearl"), which caused Nonnus to condemn his audience and himself for taking less care of their souls than she had of her body. She appeared at his next Sunday sermon and Nonnus's sermon on hell prompted her to repent. She wrote him a letter and was permitted to see him with other witnesses; convinced of her sincerity, he took her confession and baptized her by her birth name Pelagia. After being pursued by the devil for a few days, she donated the property from her former employment to the church and lived with the deaconess Romana before departing for Jerusalem to disguise herself as a male hermit under the name Pelagius. The story significantly omits dates and (on 8 occasions) the name of the archbishop under whom Nonnus served.