Sevastiana of Heraclea

Holy Martyr Sevastiana of Heraclea was a disciple of the holy Apostle Paul and suffered for faith in Christ in the time of Emperor Domitian (81-96).

As a Christian she was tried by the governor George in Marcianopolis in Moesia. She confessed her faith firmly, was cruelly beaten and then cast into a heated furnace, from which she came out unharmed. She was sent to Heraclea, where she was tried a second time. The governor Pompian ordered her hung from a tree and her body scraped with tiles, but she stayed unshaken; then he gave her to the beasts, and the beasts did not touch her. Her head was then cut off, and her body, thrown into the sea, was carried by angels to the island of Rodosto in Thrace, on the Sea of Marmara.

The saint is commemorated on 29 September, in the new style.