Holy Martyrs Julian (II), Eustathius (+c. 316) and Acacius (+c. 321)

The holy Martyr Julian suffered in the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161), in Italy, in the province of Campania. The governor Flavian gave orders for the Christians to be sought out and brought before him. At this very time a young Christian, Julian, arrived there from Dalmatia and greeted the soldiers he met warmly: “Peace be with you, brethren!” In reply they asked the blessed one where he came from and what faith he professed. The young man, who sought torture and death for the Saviour’s name, openly confessed Christ. The soldiers were amazed at his courage, but they seized him all the same and took him to the governor, saying to him: “Let us see whether thou really wishest to die for the Crucified!”

Julian fervently besought the Lord to grant him the strength to endure the torments to the end. The prayer offered with a sincere heart was heard, and a voice sounded from on high: “Fear not, Julian, I will be with thee and will give thee strength and courage!” The blessed young man was thrown into a dungeon and kept there seven days without food or drink. An angel of the Lord brought him food and strengthened the confessor.

The governor ordered the young man to be bound to a tree and beaten. The lamb of Christ began to pray, and again he heard: “Fear not, Julian, stand firm!” After this the martyr, renewed in spiritual strength, turned to the crowd thronging around him: “Give ear to me, ye wretched ones! Put not your hope in idols made by your own hands; know the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth!” These words, spoken with wonderful power, converted more than thirty pagans to the law of Christ. In the morning, when Julian’s torture was renewed, word spread through the city that the altar of Serapis had been shattered together with the idol set up on it. Everyone was amazed, while the Christians rejoiced and glorified the true God. The pagans attributed what had happened to Julian’s sorcery and demanded that his execution be hastened. The tormentors decided to kill the lamb of Christ on the spot where the altar had been shattered. Before his end he knelt and prayed, and was made worthy once more to hear the sweetest heavenly voice calling him to the Kingdom.

The holy Martyr Eustathius was a soldier. He was seized for confessing Christ and brought to the governor of the city of Ancyra. At the interrogation the saint firmly confessed the true faith, for which many kinds of torment were brought upon him. The blessed one was mercilessly beaten, his heels were bored through, and, bound with a rope, he was dragged to the bank of the river Sangarius. Here Eustathius was nailed into a wooden box and thrown into the sea, but an angel of the Lord cast the coffer out onto the shore. Terrified by this miracle, the governor felt himself defeated, drew his sword and took his own life. The blessed Eustathius joined the Lord with a radiant soul (+c. 316). The martyr’s holy relics were buried in the city of Ancyra.

The holy Martyr Acacius was seized for confessing Christ and brought before the tribunal. Three governors tried in vain to persuade him to offer sacrifice to the idols: the governor Licinius tortured the saint cruelly, and then sent him to the governor Terentius. By order of the latter the blessed one was thrown into a cauldron full of boiling pitch and fat, from which he came out completely unharmed. The saint was taken into a pagan temple, but through his prayer all the idols set up in it were shattered; the Lord’s chosen one was thrown to the beasts to be torn apart, but the beasts too would not touch the blessed one. After this the lamb of Christ was thrown into a red-hot furnace and, when to everyone’s amazement he suffered no harm this time either, the governor himself went up to the furnace to find out whether it was hot enough. The Lord, who covered His chosen one with the veil of grace, brought His wrath upon the lawless man: scorched, he gave up his spirit on the spot. Then Saint Acacius was handed over for torture to a certain Posidonius, who put heavy fetters on him and sent him to the city of Miletus. Here too the God-pleaser shattered the idols by the power of prayer. At last the enraged tormentors beheaded Acacius (+c. 321). The presbyter Leontius committed his holy remains to the earth in the city of Synnada (Asia Minor).