Lucillianus and his Companions

Saint Lucillianus and his Companions are a group of martyrs honoured as saints of the undivided Church, who are said to have suffered at Byzantium (today Istanbul) around the year 270, in the time of Aurelian's persecution. This is not a secure history: their passion is very late and legendary, and their martyrdom was probably at Nicomedia, the link with the capital being explained by relics kept there.

According to the legend, as given in the Menologion of Basil, Lucillianus was a pagan priest of Nicomedia, who converted to Christianity in old age. He preached and brought many people to the faith, so that he was arrested in the time of Aurelian and brought before the prefect Silvanus. He refused to deny the Christian faith, was tortured and imprisoned. In prison he found four young Christians, Claudius, Hypatius, Paul and Dionysius, whom he helped to face the trial and remain firm in faith. Condemned, Lucillianus was thrown into a burning furnace, from which he came out unharmed. The four were sent in chains to Byzantium, where Lucillianus was crucified and the other four beheaded.

While they were in prison they were visited by Paula, a Christian woman who healed their wounds and brought them food. After their execution Paula returned to Nicomedia and continued to preach and help Christians, until she was arrested, tortured and, like the others, sent to Byzantium, where she was beheaded. Other versions say Paula was Lucillianus's wife and that the two were the parents of the four youths; the Coptic tradition makes them natives of Egypt. The group was honoured together and had special veneration at Constantinople.