Juliana of Ptolemais

Holy Martyr Juliana of Ptolemais suffered in the time of the Emperor Aurelian (270-275), together with her brother Paul, in the Phoenician city of Ptolemais. The Church commemorates her on 17 March and on 30 August (new style).

One day the emperor came to Ptolemais. Among those who met him was Paul, who made the sign of the cross, and the gesture was noticed. He was seized on the spot and thrown into prison. The next day, brought to trial, he openly and boldly confessed his faith in Christ and for this was subjected to terrible tortures. Juliana, seeing her brother's suffering, began to accuse the emperor before all of injustice and cruelty, and for this was tortured too. The martyrs were beaten, their bodies torn with iron hooks and burned on red-⁠hot grates, but they could not shake the wonderful patience of the confessors of the Lord. Three soldiers who tormented them, struck by the greatness of the martyrs' spirit, believed in Christ. These new elect of God, Quadratus, Acacius and Stratonicus, were put to death at once.

The tormentor tried to entice Saint Juliana, promising to take her as wife if she renounced Christ, but the saint rejected the tempter's offer and remained unyielding. By the emperor's order the martyr was given to a brothel for defilement, but the Lord protected her there too: all who tried to touch the saint lost their sight. Then the emperor, angered, ordered the bodies of the martyrs burned again. The people who gathered around, seeing the suffering of the innocent, began to murmur loudly, and Aurelian commanded that their heads be cut off at once. With joyful faces brother and sister went to their death singing: "For Thou hast saved us from them that afflict us, and hast put them to shame that hate us" (Psalm 43:7).