Victor (Photinus) of Rome

Holy Martyr Victor (Photinus) of Rome was a son of the holy martyr Photina, the Samaritan woman with whom the Savior spoke at Jacob's well. He was a soldier and a commander and died as a martyr in the time of Nero.

Photina lived in Carthage, in the time of Nero (54-68), with her younger son, Joses, and preached the Gospel fearlessly. Her elder son, Victor, had fought bravely in the Roman armies against the barbarians and for his merits was appointed commander in the city of Attalia in Asia Minor. The governor of Attalia, Sebastian, told him that he knew that he, his mother and his brother were Christians, and advised him as a friend to submit to the emperor. 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, lost his voice and lay blind for three days. On the fourth day he said aloud that only the faith of the Christians is true, and he was baptized, and his eyes were healed. His servants, seeing the miracle, were baptized too.

The news reached Nero, who ordered them brought to Rome. The Lord appeared to the martyrs and said: "I will be with you." To Victor he said that from now on his name would be Photinus, "the Radiant", because many enlightened by him would turn to Him. Photina, informed by the Savior, left Carthage for Rome and joined the confessors. In Rome the emperor ordered their hands crushed on an anvil, but they felt no pain. Sebastian, Photinus and Joses were blinded and thrown into prison. After three years Nero's envoys learned that the blinded men had become well, and that the prison had become a bright and fragrant place where people came to hear them. Nero then ordered them crucified head downward and beaten for three days with straps. The servants sent to see if they were alive went blind, but an angel of the Lord freed the martyrs and healed them, and the saints in turn restored the sight of the servants, who believed and were baptized.

In his powerless fury Nero ordered Photina flayed and thrown into a well, and Sebastian, Photinus and Joses to have their shins cut off, to be thrown to dogs and then flayed. The sisters of Photina were cruelly tortured; one was tied to two trees and torn apart, and the others were beheaded. After twenty days in prison, Photina was brought once more before Nero, spat in his face and was thrown again into the well, where she gave up her spirit (about the year 66).

Victor (Photinus) is commemorated on 2 April, in the new style.