In the history of the Orthodox Church, there are many Christian wives ranked as saints. Several of them bore the name of Juliana. In Russian Orthodoxy, the most interesting example is St. Julian of Lazarevskaya, who was not a nun, blessed or martyr. An ordinary lay woman from an old noble family, who had lost her mother early and married at a very young age, she lived in the family of her husband, gave birth and raised children, and lived a rather long life at that time. What was her asceticism, what virtues did Saint Julian possess, that her body was not affected by decay after death, and the Russian Orthodox Church glorified her in the face of the righteous? The essence of the Christian feat of Juliania consisted of an unceasing love for one's neighbor, which she had been preaching and fulfilling all her life.
The primary sources of life
The only list has been preserved about the acquisition of the relics of St. Julian of Lazarev. There were also acts about the noble family of the Osoryins. The main source testifying to the life and deeds of the saint is the Life of Julian Lazarevskaya. There are about 60 living lists in three different editions: initial (short), lengthy, consolidated. The original edition after gaining the relics of Juliania (1614–1615) was written by her son Osoriin's Druzhina (after the baptism of Kalistratus), who served as the laborer in Murom. His work “The Tale of Juliana Lazarevskaya” is a classic example of Old Russian literature, which describes for the first time in such detail the life of a noblewoman of that period. Simple and unsophisticated, with a rich everyday description, the narrative is a short and primary edition, which was not widely distributed, and today only six lists are known, dating from the 17th - early 18th centuries. It is believed that the service of the saint is also compiled by her son Druzhina.
The original biography of St. Julian of Murom, set forth by Calistratus Osoryin, in an expanded version and supplemented by stories of miracles that occurred at the tomb or from the relics of the saint, is a lengthy and consolidated edition. The description of miracles in them varies from 6 to 21, of which the last three miracles refer to 1649.
Pedigree
The family of St. Julian came from the ancient boyar family of the Nedyurevs, known from the late 15th century for service at the royal court. Father Justin Vasilievich was a yard keeper. Mother Stefanida Grigoryevna, in the nee Lukin, was originally from Murom. Nedyurev Ivan Vasilievich, the uncle of Iuliania, who was a clergyman during the reign of John IV the Terrible, was considered a particularly influential person in the family.
But the story of St. Julian of Murom is mainly connected with the surname of her husband George (Yuri) Vasilyevich Osorin. His family, as well as the Samarins and Osorgins, has not died out to this day. These families always kept the memory of the holy ancestors and the girls were often given the name Ulyana. One of the sons of the Osoriins, often the eldest, became accepted to call George. Until 1801, together with the name of the holy Righteous Juliania, on the eve of the day of her memory, members of the Osoryiny family (George, Dmitriy, grandson of Juliania Abraham Starodubsky) recalled in prayers. According to the testimonies of the beginning of the 20th century, all the Osorins were distinguished by the deepest religiosity and unwavering faith. Over the years of the family’s existence, including in the 20th century, many representatives of the clan left a noticeable mark in the history of Russian Orthodoxy both in their homeland and in exile.
Biography of childhood
Ulyana Nedyureva was born in 1530, received the name Juliana at baptism. Her parents, wealthy and very pious nobles, lived in Moscow. Juliana was the youngest among several sisters and brothers. Obviously, the parents were infused with the children the deep religiosity that the girl showed from an early age. Her father was the first to die, and her mother when Ulyana was six years old. An orphaned granddaughter was taken up by her grandmother Anastasia Dubenskaya, who also died six years later, and was taken to her “Murom limits”. Twelve-year-old Julia was taken to her estate by her native aunt Natalia Putilova, who had a large family.
In the life of St. Julian, her inclinations and character in her early years are exhaustively described. The girl was distinguished by a meek and silent disposition, she preferred prayer to children's amusements, devoted her free time to needlework, sheathed widows and orphans, left to care for the sick, and fed the beggars. Biographies note that in the area where the aunt's estate was located, there was no church, therefore the girl was not in the service and did not have a spiritual mentor. However, she led a righteous life, observing fasts and spending a lot of time in prayers. The asceticism of the girl bothered her relatives, who were worried about her beauty and health, therefore they forced them to plentiful breakfasts. Because of her way of life, Juliania was sometimes ridiculed by both households and servants, and the stubborn desire to help the disadvantaged often caused even her aunt's anger. The girl took everything meekly and humbly:
... From the aunt we cook a lot, but from daughters she laughs.
... She did not give in to their will, but she accepted everything with gratitude and withdrew with silence, having obedience to every person.
... I often read my aunt and her daughters, and having obedience and humility in everything, and prayer and fasting.
Matrimony
16-year-old Julian was married. Her husband, George Osorin, was a prosperous Murom steward who owned the village of Lazarevsky, in which his estate and the church of St. Lazarus were located. There the wedding took place, performed by the priest Potapius (Pimen in monasticism). The young wife Osorina got along well with her father-in-law and mother-in-law, showing obedience and deep respect for them. The daughter-in-law never contradicted the elder Osorin, humbly and without fail fulfilling any of their requests.
Also, her husband’s parents noticed that the girl is not only virtuous, but also smart, she knew the answer to any question. Paying tribute to her kindness and rationality, the father and mother of Osoriny instructed the daughter-in-law to manage the household. The life says that St. Juliana was merciful to the servants and sometimes took the blame for their misconduct, never informing her husband:
... The matter of the power of nalachas and nicoli is not a simple name.
When her husband left for a long time in Astrakhan on matters of imperial service, Juliania spent all nights in prayer. She devoted her free time to needlework, which she sold, and gave the proceeds to the construction of the church and spent on helping the poor. The young couple lived in virtue, according to the laws of God. Every day, during evening and morning prayers, the couple made at least a hundred bows. Despite the fact that the father of Juliania was a literate man and collected manuscript books, she herself did not know the letter. Therefore, George read aloud to his wife the Holy Scriptures, the lives of the saints, the writings of Kozma the Presbyter.
Especially revered Juliania were the Virgin and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, whose images were in the local church of St. Lazarus. Nicholas the Wonderworker seemed to patronize the holy righteous Juliana, never leaving the righteous and providing miraculous intervention in difficult moments of her life. So, she twice complained that demons were threatening her with death threats if she did not stop doing her good. And both times after the desperate prayers of Juliania, Nikolai the Wonderworker appeared to her, saving the prayer by her intercession.
Acts of the Pious Spouses
The young couple helped a lot of those in need, distributing food in Lazarevsky and sending alms to dungeons. The virtue of the spouses spread not only within the Murom patrimony. The Osorin people in the Nizhny Novgorod district also owned the Berezopol manor, where the church was located in the name of St. George the Victorious. With her, the spouses established a temporary shelter and distribution of food to the poor:
... Two cells of beggar, feed from the church of God.
But many of the blessings of St. Julian of Lazarevskaya-Murom had to be done secretly from the mother-in-law with the mother-in-law, especially when her righteous husband, George, was absent from the service. During a terrible famine, she gave food received from her mother-in-law for her food, to the poor.
And during the plague, not fearing to get infected, Saint Juliania secretly from the relatives healed the sick, washed them in a family bath, praying for recovery. She washed the dead, paid for their burial, ordered the magpie, and prayed for the dead.
In 1550-1560, having lived to a very old age, George's parents died, while he himself was in Astrakhan in the service. According to the customs of the family, the older Osorins took monastic tonsure before death, and Juliania buried them with honor in due course:
... I give a lot of alms and magpies for them, and I ordered you to serve a liturgy for them, and in your house you and I will deliver peace to the poor and all the poor for all 40 days ... and send alms to the dungeons.
Parental fate of Juliania and George
The righteous spouses gave birth to 13 children (3 girls and 10 boys), of which six died as infants. Famous names with the birth dates of five sons and daughters who lived to adulthood: Gregory (1574), Callistratus (1578), Ivan (1580), George (1587), Dmitry (1588), the youngest child - Theodosius (1590), who became a monk and subsequently became the locally revered saint Rev. Theodosius.
In 1588, the eldest son died at the hands of a yard man. Around 1590, the son of Gregory was killed in battle in a war. Humbly suffering the death of infants, Saint Juliania, after the death of her elder sons, asked her husband for permission to become a monk. George refused and read her words from the writings of Cosmas presbyter:
Black robes use nothing else, otherwise we are not doing anything. Cases bo save man, not robes. Ashe lives in the world, but the ministry executor does not destroy his bribes. It’s not a place that saves a person, but a temper.
The righteous couple committed themselves to refrain from further marital intimacy. They kept fasting even more strictly and spent more time in prayers. However, Juliania considered this insufficient, and after all the household fell asleep, she began to pray until dawn. In the morning, the righteous woman went to the matins and the liturgy to the church, then she took care of the household, helped the poor, orphans and widows:
... To the manual work, you are diligent, and you have built your house godly.
Husband's death
In constant prayers and service, without marital intimacy, like a brother and sister, the holy couple lived for several years. Righteous George died around 1592-1593 and was buried with honor in the Lazarev Church. The holy righteous Juliana of Lazarevskoy-Murom honored him with prayers, church singing, magpies and alms. After the death of George, the righteous woman went to church daily, devoting herself to serving God and helping others. Saint Julian gave all the savings to the needy, and when they were not enough, she borrowed funds:
... Creating alms is immeasurable, since many times she didn’t leave a single piece of silver with her ... and she borrowing, giving alms to the poor.
Church phenomenon
In the interval between 1593 and 1598, pestilence, famine again occurred, and in winter there were severe frosts, which had not existed in the Murom lands for a long time. Juliana was over 60 years old, and she distributed the money that her sons gave her to buy warm clothes to the poor. Therefore, in a severe frost, the righteous did not go to the Lazarev Church. Once, in a church at one of the services, the priest heard a voice coming from the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos:
Shedra merciful Ulyanei: that the church does not go to prayer? And her house prayer is benign, but not like a church. You read it, it’s already at least 60 years old, and the Holy Spirit will rest on it.
The priest threw himself into the Osoriins' house, asking for forgiveness, fell at the feet of the righteous and told her about his vision. The saint was annoyed by the fact that the minister of the altar on the way to her managed to tell many people about the miracle he had witnessed. Juliana, convincing the priest that he was “seduced,” asked him not to tell anyone about the vision. And she, in a thin robe, hurried to the church through the bitter frost, and Saint Juliana began to pray fervently at the icon of the Virgin.
... With warm tears, having made the prayer service, the icon of Bogoroditsyn was whole. And from there, Bole labored toward God, going to the church.
Times of the Great Famine
Juliana continued to do alms, leaving funds only for the necessities of the house, and enough food not to live half-starving for her and the servant. But a monstrous famine occurred on the territory of most of Russia in 1601-1603. Starving people lost their minds, and there were even cases of cannibalism. In the cold rainy summer of 1601, as elsewhere in the state, the fields of Juliania did not produce grain, cattle fell, and there were no stocks from previous years. Saint Julian sold all that was left on the farm: surviving cattle, utensils, clothes. With the proceeds, starving herself and reaching extreme poverty, she fed the servants and people dying of exhaustion with rye bread:
In the house ... she has a great poverty of food and all those who need it, since it is far from sprouting from the earth that her whole life ... horses and cattle are isomros. The righteous woman asked family members and servants “hedgehog doesn’t touch anything at all.”
The servants are gracious, and I will be pleased with the alms, and in poverty the usual alms will not break, and do not let go of those who ask ...
... Go to the last poverty, as if you would not remain a grain in her house, but don’t worry about that, but put all hope in God.
Hunger and cold caused the disease, the cholera epidemic began. For this reason, Juliana moved to the estate of the deceased spouse in the village of Vochnevo near Murom, where there was no church. The righteous was overcome by old age and poverty, and the nearest church was in “two fields” (about 4 km) from her house. Saint Julian was forced to perform only home prayer, which saddened her a lot.
During the Great Famine, many landowners freed their peasants, not being able to feed them. The righteous also freed her slaves, but the most loyal of them did not want to leave the mistress, preferring to endure disasters with her. The famine continued to rage, and all the bread was over. Juliana with her children and the remaining servants gathered wood bark with a swan, ground it into flour, from which bread was baked with prayer. It was enough not only to household members, but also to distribute to the starving. The beggars who ate her bread, told other benefactors that the righteous widow "painfully sweet bread." The neighboring landowners sent their servants to ask for bread in the courtyard of Juliania, and after tasting it, they recognized that "a lot of the servants of the righteous" would bake such delicious bread. Unbeknownst to them, "her bread is sweet in prayer."
The demise and gaining relics
At the end of December 1603, Juliana fell ill. In unceasing prayers, she spent another week. On the second day of January 1604, the righteous sacrament was attended by her spiritual father, priest Athanasius, after which she said goodbye to children and servants, parting of their love, prayer, alms and other virtues. After this, Saint Juliania rested, and her death was accompanied by miraculous signs:
... All saw near her head a circle of gold ... in a crate ... saw a light and a burning candle and fragrance, the message was higher.
According to the death will of St. Julian, her body was transported from Vochnev to Lazarevo. There, on January 10, 1604, at the northern side of the church of St. Lazarus, the remains of the righteous were buried near the tomb of George the Spouse. Over the graves of the pious couple in 1613-1615, a wooden warm church of the Archangel Michael was erected. Later, near their parents, their daughter, the schema nun Theodosius, was buried. The local population of Murom and partly Nizhny Novgorod district venerated the saints Juliania, George and Theodosius.
In 1614, when George, the son of Ivan Osorin, was buried near the ancestors, the process of gaining the relics of Juliania was carried out. The tomb was opened and the imperishable relics of the saint were discovered in it, and the coffin was full of heavenly fragrant peace, after the anointing of which many patients were healed. Until 1649, 21 cases of miracles were recorded near the tomb of the saint.
The righteous woman was canonized in the year of gaining her relics. The memory is performed according to St. Julian on the day of death - January 2 according to the Julian and 15 according to the Gregorian calendar.
Veneration
After gaining the relics of Juliania, her son Callistratus wrote the life of the saint. It is believed that he composed and service to the holy righteous. Since 1801, the bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal forbade the service of prayers to the holy spouses, and their icons were removed from the Lazarevsky church. In the fire of 1811 that happened in the temple, the relics of Juliania suffered and after the construction of the stone church were placed in the new main throne of the Archangel Michael. From 1867-1868, the service in the Lazarevsky church of prayers of Juliania and George was resumed.
In October 1889, solemnly, with a large crowd of people, the relics of the saint were transferred to an oak coffin, which was placed in a cypress shell, richly trimmed and gilded with hammered copper.
By order of the Soviet authorities, the relics of St. Julian were twice examined in 1924 and 1930. After the second examination, the tomb entered the Murom Museum of Local Lore, where crayfish with the remains of other local holy miracle workers were already found as anti-religious propaganda. Unexpectedly for the authorities, believers began to go to the museum instead of the church to worship the holy relics. Because the crayfish were soon removed to the museum store. The relics of St. Julian were kept there until 1989, after which they were transferred to the Murom Annunciation Cathedral. And since 1993 they were transferred to the Murom Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church, where they are currently located.
The troparion and prayer to St. Julian of Lazarevskaya are given below (with spelling and stylistics preserved).
Troparion (voice 4):
Enlightened by Divine Grace
and upon death the lordship of your life was revealed:
exudes Bo incense to all who are sick for healing,
with faith coming to your power,
the righteous mother Julian,
Christ God Moth
be saved to our souls.
Prayer:
Our consolation was also praised, Julian, the dove-wise Goddess, like the Phoenix, gloriously prospering, having the sacred and silver grave of virtues, even thou flew up to the height of the Kingdom of Heaven! We bring joyful singing of your memory today, even less so Christ through imperishability by miraculous crowning and by the grace of healing, glorify you. You were hardened by the love of Christ, you were saved by youth from the youth, but fasting and abstinence were loved by Jesus, who helped the grace of God, you trampled all the passions of the world, and like a bee, you wisely found the sweet color of the Holy Spirit in your heart thou hast afforded thou, and, still in the flesh of the former, thou art was granted the visit to the Mother of God. We pray diligently for slaughter: praying, Madam, may God bless us with your prayers in the Trinity for many years, health and salvation, silence and abundance of the fruits of the earth and against the enemies of victory and overcoming. Save by your intercession, reverend mother, the country of Russia and this city, and all the cities and countries of Christianity are intact from all the slander and intrigues of the enemy. Remember, madam, the wretched slaves of yours, coming forth in prayer to you, but through all your life, sinning more often than all, warm repentance of these offerings and your prayers to God, forgiveness of sins, receive a prayer, as if you were free from sinful passions, bring thankful singing to you we shall commemorate and glorify all the good of the Giver of God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever and ever. Amen.
The relics of St. Julian were twice examined by order of the Soviet authorities: in 1924 and 1930. After the second examination, the tomb entered the atheistic department of the Murom Museum of Local Lore, where, as anti-religious propaganda, there were already crayfish with the remains of other local holy miracle workers. Unexpectedly for the authorities, believers began to go to the museum instead of the church to worship the holy relics. Because the crayfish were soon removed to the museum store. The relics of St. Julian were stored there until 1989, after which they were transferred to the Murom Annunciation Cathedral, and since 1993 they were transferred to the Murom Nikolo-Naberezhnaya church, where they are currently located.
Other Christian Saints
The Russian Orthodox Church reveres several holy women who bore the name of Julian. The sanctity of each of the ascetics of the Lord consisted in the Christian exploits of piety, indestructible adherence to the faith of Christ, virtue, and chastity. The Holy Great Martyr Juliania of Nikoim, Juliania of Vyazemskaya, Juliania Olshanskaya - miracles and signs accompanied deaths and the remains of these righteous wives. Prayer of faith in their images will give help and intercession, and not only as a heavenly patron for Ulyan and women with other forms of this name, but also for all Christians.
Juliana Olshanskaya
After the accession of most of the Ukrainian lands to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Prince George (Yuri) Olshansky ruled in Kiev in the middle of the 16th century. He was a well-known military leader, a pious man, a generous patron and patron of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. His daughter Princess Yulianiya Yurievna died an innocent virgin, not reaching 16 years old. They buried her near the walls of the main Kiev-Pechersky temple. A few decades later, in the first quarter of the 17th century, when a grave was dug for a new burial near the Assumption Cathedral, a coffin was discovered. The inscription on the silver plate reported:
Juliana, Princess Olshansky, daughter of Prince George Olshansky, who reposed as a virgin, in the summer of her 16th birth.
Opening the robe, those present saw the princess's body, not subject to decay. The tomb with the remains was transferred to the temple. And after some time, under the Metropolitan of Kiev Peter the Grave, the relics were placed in a new cancer. The reason for this was the appearance of St. Julian Olshansky in a dream to the rector of the Pechersky monastery, in which the virgin reproached the archimandrite for neglecting her relics and his lack of faith. On the new container of imperishable remains made the inscription:
By the will of the Creator of heaven and earth, Julia lives throughout the summer, an assistant and a great intercessor in Heaven. Here the bones are medicine against all sufferings ... Paradise villages are adorned with you, Julia, like a beautiful flower ...
The veneration by the Orthodox Church of Juliania Olshanska began after one incident. An attacker entered the Great Lavra Church under the pretext of worshiping holy relics. Upon his request to bow to the relics of the righteous Juliania, a cancer was opened for him, and the wicked fell to the saint's hand. As soon as he left the temple, he began to scream terribly, after which he fell dead. When the body of the attacker was examined, they found the princess’s ring, stolen by the villain from her finger. So St. Juliana Olshanska punished the thief, and many more healings and miracles took place at the crayfish with her remains. The relics of the saint were badly damaged by the fire of 1718 and were transferred to a new cancer installed in the Anthony (Near) caves. This is one and two cases of the burial of holy women in the Lavra caves.
The righteous Juliania Olshanskaya is revered as the patroness of innocent virgins, the healer of spiritual ailments and mental illnesses, an assistant to Orthodox women and one of the first intercessors for them before the Blessed Virgin Mary and the See of the Holy Trinity. The memory takes place on July 6 (19 according to the new style). Troparia and prayer to St. Julian of Olshanska are presented below.
Troparion:
Like the immaculate bride of the Imperishable Bride of Christ, the righteous maiden Julius, with a bright sign of good deeds, entered thou in the palace of Heaven, and there with holy saints you forever enjoy. With the same prayer, thou hast loved him, and thou hast betrothed your virginity unto him, being saved by our souls.
Prayer:
Oh, the holy righteous maiden Julian, Princess Olshanska, the helper to all who long for the salvation of healing from the diseases of souls and bodies! Oh, holy lamb of God, as if having the gift of the disease of healing, and from all the machinations of enemies to protect, heal for our spiritual passions and lighten the grave illness of body, give joy to grief and deliver us from all troubles and misfortunes. Look at all that is forthcoming with your honest power (icon) asking for your help with a broken heart and a humble spirit, let us bring spiritual fruits in all our lives: love, goodness, mercy, faith, meekness, restraint, let us be merged with eternal life and be protected by your love, we sing to the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. All glory and honor befits Him with His Fatherless Father and His Most Holy Life-giving Spirit, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen.
Saint Julian, Princess Vyazemsky
After the capture and liquidation of the Principality of Smolensky in 1404 by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Yuri Svyatoslavich, the Grand Duke of Smolensky, was expelled by the Lithuanians from his lands. In exile, he was accompanied by Prince Vyazemsky Simeon Mstislavich with his wife Juliania. Both specific rulers came from the Rostislavovich dynasty, the ruling branch of the Rurikovich house. Prince Smolensky was captivated by the beauty of the wife of his friend and comrade-in-arms, and in Torzhok, where Yury Svyatoslavovich was appointed viceroy by Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich, he killed Simen Mstislavich during a feast in order to take possession of his wife by force. The legend of those bloody events of 1406 and the further fate of Prince Yuri are described in the illustrated annals of world and Russian history - “The Face of the Annals”, and later rewritten in the “Degree Book”:
... And the Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich made him governor in Torzhok, and there he innocently killed the employee of Prince Semyon Mstislavich Vyazemsky and his Princess Juliania, as he was seized with a carnal desire for his wife, took her to his house, wanting to cohabit with her. The princess, not wanting this, said, “Oh, prince, what do you think, can I leave my living husband and go to you?” He wanted to lie with her, resisting him, grabbed a knife and hit him in the muscle. He became angry and soon killed her husband, Prince Semyon Mstislavich Vyazemsky, who served with him, shed blood for him and was not guilty of anything before him, since he had not taught his wife how to deal with the prince. And he commanded the princess to cut off her hands and feet and throw into the water. The servants did what was ordered to them, threw it into the water, it became a sin and great shame for Prince Yuri, not wanting to endure his misfortune and shame, and dishonor, he fled to the Horde ...
... did not die in his great principality of Smolensk, but wandered in a foreign country, wandering in exile, moving from place to place in the deserts of his great prince Smolensky, deprived of his fatherland and grandfather, his grand duchess, children and brothers, relatives, his princes and boyars , governor and servants.
A few months after the atrocity committed by Prince Yuri at a feast, the body of St. Julian of Vyazemsky, floating against the course of the Tvertsa River, was discovered by a certain peasant. He heard the voice of heaven, which ordered the church ministers to be gathered and the body of the martyr to be buried in Torzhok at the southern gate of the Transfiguration Cathedral. The peasant was tormented by ailments, but when he heard this command from above, he was immediately healed. The princess’s body was buried with all honors, and in subsequent years the Church recorded many cases of healing at her tomb.
During the repair of 1815 in the Transfiguration Cathedral, the tomb of St. Julian of Vyazemskaya was opened. Many of those present received healing. The relics were transferred to the cancer, which set in the limit, built in honor of the martyr. After the revolution, the temple was closed by order of the new authorities, and the relics were transferred to the church of the Archangel Michael. In 1930, the remains of the princess disappeared, and since then it is not known what happened to them.
The chastity of Christian marriage is a great mystery of the Orthodox Church. The faithful wife and assistant to her husband in his writings, the holy martyr Juliania Vyazemskaya - the guardian of marriage, the protector of marital fidelity and chastity. The memory of the noble princess is committed on January 3, the day of her martyrdom, and June 15, the day of the finding of the relics of the saint.
Saint Julian of Nicomedia
The ancient Mediterranean city of Nicomedia from 286 to 324 year of a new era received the status of the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. It was a major cultural, commercial and craft center. But in the history of religion, Nicomedia left a memory of its Christian martyrs. For half a century during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, a fanatical opponent of Christianity, and his successor, Galerius, tens of thousands of Christians were tortured and executed in the city. One of them is the holy martyr Julian of Nicomedia.
Her name is included in the lists of saints of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. The earliest mention of the martyr is found in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum ("Martyrology of St. Jerome"), a list of Christian saints, compiled in about 362. Later, in the 7th-8th centuries, the Benedictine monk and the authoritative religious historian Beda the Honorable first set out in detail the acts of Saint Julian in his Martyrology. The story of the righteous described by the Benedictine was based mainly on the legend, and it is not known how many real facts it contained.
Written evidence has survived of how, at the beginning of the 13th century, the remains of the saint were transported to Naples. After that, veneration of the holy martyr Juliania spread to many countries of medieval Europe. The states of Italy, especially the neighborhood of Naples, and the territory of present-day Netherlands were the most worshiped martyrs. Over time, the legend of Juliana in different regions acquired distinctive features.
In the “Martyrology of St. Jerome”, the place and time of Julian’s birth are the Kumas in Campania, about 286 AD, from where her family apparently moved to Nicomedia. According to the description of the Troubles of the Honorable, Saint Julian was the daughter of an outstanding Nicomedian named Afrikanus. Parents engaged her in childhood with Eleusius, who later became a senator and one of the advisers to the emperor Diocletian (according to another version, Eleusius is an influential officer from Antioch). It was a time of severe persecution of Christians, and the parents of Julian, being pagans, were especially hostile to Christianity. But Juliana secretly received holy baptism. When it was time for the wedding, the girl refused to marry, which discouraged her parents and painfully wounded the groom. Her father tried to persuade her not to break the engagement and marry, but Juliana refused to obey him.
Then the father gave the groom the opportunity to convince the girl. After talking with Julian, Eleusius found out that she had been baptized secretly from her parents. According to one version, the groom promised the girl that, having entered into marriage with him, she could not renounce her faith. But she categorically refused, which deeply hurt the pride of the failed groom.
Eleusius decided to take revenge on the Shrew and informed of her belonging to Christianity by the Roman authorities. Juliana was arrested and imprisoned. While she was in prison, Eleusius made several more attempts to persuade the girl to marry him. Thus, he would save her from execution and torture. But St. Juliana preferred death to marriage to a Gentile.
Enraged, Eleusius personally executed the order of the Roman ruler and ruthlessly beat the righteous. After that, he burned her face with a red-hot iron and ordered to look in the mirror to see his current "beauty". The martyr answered him with a smile:
When the righteous are resurrected, there will be no burns and wounds, but only a soul. Therefore, I prefer to suffer bodily wounds now than the wounds of the soul that torment forever.
According to one version of the legend, the holy martyr Juliana was subjected to public torture with particular cruelty. But before the amazed crowd, her wounds were miraculously healed. From a large gathering of people, several hundred people, seeing the miracle of healing and the power of faith of Julian, immediately believed in Christ and were immediately executed. After some time, the holy martyr Juliania was beheaded. Her execution took place in about 304. According to legend, Eleusius later, when he was shipwrecked on an unknown island, was eaten by a lion.
The day of St. Julian of Nicomedia by Orthodox Christians is celebrated on December 21 (according to the Julian calendar) or January 3 (according to the Gregorian), and by Catholics on February 16. In prayer, the holy Great Martyr Juliana is addressed for the healing of diseases and especially bodily wounds.
Troparion, voice 4:
Thy Lamb, Jesus, Juliana / calls with a great voice: / To you, my wife, I love you, / and you seek, suffer, / and I am crucified, and buried in your baptism, / and for your sake, / for I reign in you, / and I am dying for Thee, and I live with Thee, / but as an immaculate sacrifice, receive me, I will exterminate Yourselves with love. / By prayers, / As merciful, save our souls.
Condac, voice 3:
She cleansed the virginity with goodness, the maiden, and / and the torment of the crowns, Julius, now married, / give healing and salvation to those in need and inadequate, / proceeding to your race: / Divine grace Christ exudes and eternal life.
Julianus of Nicomedia is sometimes confused with a martyr from the same city, Juliania of Iliopolis, who is also especially revered. In 306, during the public torture of the Great Martyr Barbara, she openly declared herself a Christian, after which both saints were executed.