Josiah of Rome

Holy Martyr Josiah of Rome was the younger son of the Holy Martyr Photina the Samaritan, and he suffered in the time of the Emperor Nero. The Church commemorates him on 2 April (new style), together with his mother and the other martyrs of this family.

Photina is, according to tradition, the Samaritan woman with whom the Saviour spoke at Jacob's well (John 4:5-42). In the time of Nero (54-68), an emperor of extraordinary cruelty toward Christians, she lived in Carthage with her younger son Josiah and preached the Gospel there without fear. Her elder son Victor fought bravely in the Roman armies against the barbarians and, for his merits, was appointed commander of the city of Attalia in Asia Minor.

Sebastian, the governor of Attalia, told Victor that he knew for certain that he, his mother and his brother were followers of the teaching of Christ, and advised him as a friend to submit to the emperor's will. Victor answered that he himself wished to be a preacher of Christianity, like his mother and brother. Then Sebastian felt a sharp pain in his eyes, his face changed, and he was struck dumb. For three days he lay blind and without a word. On the fourth day he said aloud that only the faith of the Christians is true and that Christ was calling him. Soon he was baptized and at once received his sight, and his servants, witnesses of the miracle, were baptized after their master's example.

The news reached Nero, who ordered the Christians brought to trial in Rome. The Lord Himself appeared to the confessors and told them that He would be with them. To Victor He gave the name Photinus, "the radiant", because many enlightened by him would turn to Him. Photina, warned by the Saviour of the sufferings to come, left Carthage for Rome with several Christians and joined the confessors.

In Rome the emperor asked them whether they really believed in Christ, and they firmly refused to renounce the Saviour. Nero ordered their hands crushed on an anvil, but the saints felt no pain, and the hands of Photina remained unharmed. Sebastian, Photinus and Josiah he had blinded and shut in prison, and Photina, with her five sisters, Anatolia, Photo, Photis, Paraskeva and Kyriake, he sent to the palace, under the guard of Nero's daughter Domnina. Photina brought Domnina to Christ, together with all her maidservants, who received Holy Baptism, and also a sorcerer who had brought a poisoned drink.

After three years Nero sent for one of his servants who was held in prison. The messengers reported that Sebastian, Photinus and Josiah, who had been blinded, were perfectly well, that people came constantly to hear their preaching, and that the prison had become a bright and fragrant place in which God was glorified. Nero ordered them crucified head downward and beaten for three days with straps. The servants sent to see whether they were still alive were struck blind, but an angel of the Lord freed the martyrs and healed them, and the saints, taking pity, restored the servants' sight, and they believed in Christ and were baptized.

In helpless fury Nero ordered Photina's skin stripped and that she be thrown into a well. The martyrs Sebastian, Photinus and Josiah had their legs cut off, were thrown to the dogs, and were then flayed. The sisters of Photina also suffered terrible tortures. Photis was tied to the tops of two bent trees, which, springing straight, tore her apart, and the others were beheaded. Photina was drawn out of the well and kept in prison for twenty days, then Nero asked her whether she would now submit. She mocked him and refused to offer sacrifice to idols, and the emperor ordered her thrown into the well again, where she gave up her soul to the Lord, around the year 66.