The Genesius medallion is a special award given by stage performers to stage performers. Originally, it was presented exclusively to actors (male and female) who had made a significant contribution to their craft. Today, the medallion continues to have particular significance among all Christian stage artists who use their gifts to express both artistic excellence and ministerial effectiveness.

The tradition originated in the fourth century AD with a young man named Genesius. He was an accomplished stage actor and comedian during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. A lover of the Arts and a hater of Christians, the emperor enjoyed watching plays that ridiculed all things Christian. When he commissioned a new play on the stoning of Stephen, Genesius was hired to write, direct and produce it. The writing of the play, however, would change Genesius forever.

In researching the martyrdom of Stephen, Genesius discovered how a person accepts Christ as Savior and gets baptized into the church. On opening night, friends of the normally fun-loving prankster Genesius found him backstage writhing on the floor. When asked what ailed him, he is said to have replied, “A great weight is upon me.” As the play began, he came onstage in terrible agony. Acting the role of the martyr Stephen, he deviated from the script and began exclaiming to the other actors onstage, “I am resolved to die as a Christian. I pray that God may receive me in this day of my death as one who seeks His salvation by turning away from sin and superstition.” Then, in a way his fellow actors had never seen him behave, Genesius stood upright and addressed not just the spectators but Diocletian himself.

All his pain vanished as he confidently spoke: “All my life I have reviled and detested Christianity and, like you, have sought to ridicule and defile the beliefs of the Church and the people who follow them.” In agreement, and seemingly pleased with such a passionate portrayal, the emperor smiled and began to clap, but Genesius raised a hand to silence him. “I therefore desire to receive the grace of Jesus Christ and to be born again, that I may be delivered from my sins.”

Trying to get back to the script, one of the actors playing a priest began to pour the baptismal water over Genesius. As rehearsed, he began spilling it clumsily and pouring it around in an irreverent manner, but Genesius humbly requested that he conduct the sacrament correctly. Then Genesius faced the emperor.

Having waited for a joke that was clearly not coming, Diocletian stood to stop the play. Genesius, however, began weeping and, through his tears, told the emperor that he had seen a vision of angels bearing a book with all of Genesius’ sins inscribed and that the angels then plunged the book into the water of his baptism. At that moment, he pleaded for the emperor and all present to believe with him that Jesus Christ was the only true Lord and that only through Him could they have forgiveness from their sins and receive eternal life.

The emperor, now finding Genesius to be in earnest, was furious and ordered that he be beaten. As several soldiers descended upon him, Genesius cried out that he would cling to Jesus even if it meant dying a thousand deaths.

After a brutal beating and a cruel stay in prison, Genesius was executed. At his beheading, he is said to have cried, “Bitterly do I regret that I once detested His holy name and came so late to His service!”

The medallion that bears his name and likeness shows Genesius with a cross (sometimes a scepter representing the reign of God) on his right and the comedy/tragedy masks on his left. Traditionally, the medallion can only be given by someone who has already received one.

(Author unknown)