John and Paul of Rome

Saints John and Paul, martyrs, lived in the fourth century in the Roman Empire and were martyred at Rome on 26 June, in the time of Julian the Apostate (361 to 363). The Russian source gives the year 362, but their Acts do not fix the year with certainty. They are commemorated on 26 June.

Their lives differ. According to one tradition, the brothers were officers of Saint Constantina, daughter of Constantine the Great. They knew some of the Gallicani, who built a church at Ostia. They were beheaded by Terentianus at Rome, in a house on the Caelian Hill.

Afterwards Terentianus, who had turned to the Lord after the miraculous healing of his son, composed their Passion. The bodies of the saints were found by the senator Byzantius and his son Pammachius, who converted their house into the well-⁠known Roman basilica on the Caelian Hill. Also well known is the church in Venice dedicated to Saints John and Paul, one of the many churches that bear their names.