Julian of Caesarea

Holy Martyr Julian of Caesarea in Palestine was a young Cappadocian, one of the twelve martyrs who suffered at Caesarea in the persecution of Diocletian, in the years 308-309. The others were the presbyter Pamphilus, the deacon Valens and the martyrs Paul, Porphyrius, Seleucus, Theodulus, Samuel, Elias, Daniel, Jeremiah and Isaiah. They are commemorated on 1 March (new style, a movable day).

Pamphilus, born in Berytus and educated in Alexandria, was a presbyter at Caesarea and laboured to correct the texts of the New Testament, which he copied and sent to those who wished them. Helped by the deacon Valens and Paul, he gathered at Caesarea a great spiritual library. The three were imprisoned for two years by the governor Urbanus. Under his successor, Firmilianus, five young brothers who had accompanied into exile a hundred and thirty Egyptian Christians were stopped on their return and thrown into prison. They took the names of prophets and said that they were citizens of Jerusalem, that is the heavenly one, and Firmilianus, disregarding this, put them to the sword, together with Pamphilus, Valens and Paul. The young Porphyrius, servant of Pamphilus, asked leave to bury the bodies and was burned on a pyre. Seleucus, a former soldier, was put to the sword, and Theodulus, an old man and a secret Christian, was crucified.

Julian, a Cappadocian by birth, approaching Caesarea, saw the bodies of the saints, thrown unburied as prey to the beasts. He knelt and kissed them. Soldiers who stood aside seized him and brought him to the governor, who condemned him to burning. The bodies of the twelve martyrs lay four days untouched by beasts or birds, and the pagans, disturbed by this, allowed the Christians to bury them.