Saint Juliana: biography, interesting facts, prayers

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

In the history of the Orthodox Church, there are many Christian wives, canonized as saints. Several of them bore the name of Juliana. In Russian Orthodoxy, the most interesting example is St. Juliana of Lazarevskaya, who was not a nun, blessed or martyr. An ordinary laywoman from an old noble family, who lost her mother early and was married at a very young age, she lived in her husband's family, gave birth and raised children, lived a rather long life for those times. What did her asceticism consist of, what virtues did Saint Juliana possess, that after her death her body was not touched by corruption, and the Russian Orthodox Church glorified her in the face of the righteous? The essence of the Christian feat of Juliana consisted in unhypocritical love for her neighbor, which she preached and fulfilled all her life.

Primary sources of life

The only list of the uncovering of the relics of St. Julian of Lazarus has been preserved. There were also acts on the noble family of the Osorins. The main source testifying to the life and deeds of the saint is the LifeJuliana Lazarevskaya. There are about 60 lists of life in three different editions: the original (short), lengthy, summary. The original edition after the acquisition of the relics of Juliania (1614-1615) was written by her son Osoryin Druzhina (after the baptism of Kalistrat), who served as a labial headman in Murom. His work "The Tale of Julian Lazarevskaya" is a classic example of ancient Russian literature, for the first time describing 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 was also composed by her son Druzhina.

The original biography of St. Juliana of Murom, presented by Kalistrat Osorin, in an expanded version and supplemented by stories about 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 date back to 1649.

Pedigree

The family of St. Juliana descended from the ancient boyar family of the Nedyurevs, from the end of the 15th century known for their service at the royal court. Father Iustin Vasilyevich was a housekeeper. Mother Stefanida Grigoryevna, nee Lukina, was from Murom. Ivan Vasilievich Nedyurev, uncle of Juliana, who was a clerk during the reign, was considered a particularly influential person in the family. John IV the Terrible.

But the story of St. Juliana of Murom is connected mainly with the surname of her husband Georgy (Yuri) Vasilyevich Osorin. His family, like the Samarins and Osorgins, has not died out to this day. These families always kept the memory of their holy ancestors and the girls were often given the name Ulyana. One of the sons of the Osorins, more often the eldest, became accepted to be called George. Until 1801, along with the name of St. Righteous Juliana, on the eve of the day of her memory, members of the Osorin family (George, Dmitry, Juliana's grandson Abraham Starodubsky) were commemorated in prayers. According to the testimony of the beginning of the 20th century, all the Osorins were distinguished by the deepest religiosity and unshakable faith. Over the years of the family's existence, including in the 20th century, many members of the family have left a noticeable mark on the history of Russian Orthodoxy, both at home and in exile.

Childhood biography

Ulyana Nedyureva was born in 1530, at baptism she received the name Juliana. Her parents, we althy and very pious nobles, lived in Moscow. Juliana was the youngest among several sisters and brothers. Obviously, the parents of the children were instilled with deep religiosity, which the girl showed from an early age. Her father died first, and her mother when Ulyana was six years old. The orphaned granddaughter was brought up and taken to her "Murom limits" by grandmother Anastasia Dubenskaya, who also died six years later. Twelve-year-old Juliana was taken to her estate by her own aunt Natalia Putilova, who had a large family.

The life of Saint Juliana exhaustively describes her inclinations andcharacter in the early years. The girl was distinguished by a meek and silent disposition, she preferred prayer to children's amusements, she devoted her free time to needlework, sheathing widows and orphans, she 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 did not attend the service and did not have a spiritual mentor. However, she led a righteous life, observing fasts and spending a lot of time in prayer. The girl's asceticism worried her relatives, who were worried about her beauty and he alth, and therefore forced her to have a hearty breakfast. Juliania, because of her lifestyle, was sometimes mocked by both households and servants, and her stubborn desire to help the destitute often aroused even her aunt's wrath. The girl accepted everything meekly and humbly:

… From my aunt we cook a lot, but from her daughters she laughs.

…She did not go into their will, but accepted everything with thanksgiving and departed in silence, having obedience to every person.

…Greatly honoring my aunt and her daughter, and having obedience and humility in everything, and prayer and fasting.

Matrimony

16-year-old Juliana got married. Her husband, Georgy Osorin, was a prosperous Murom herder, 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 towards them. The daughter-in-law never contradicted the elder Osorins,humbly and without fail fulfilling any of their requests.

Also, her husband's parents noticed that the girl was not only virtuous, but also smart, she knew the answer to any question. Paying tribute to her kindness and reasonableness, Osorina's father and mother instructed her daughter-in-law to manage the household. The life says that Saint Juliana was merciful to the servants and sometimes took the blame for their misdeeds, never informing her husband:

…It’s a matter of strength and no one calls your simple name.

When her husband left for Astrakhan for a long time on business of the royal service, Juliana spent all her 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 it on helping the poor. The young couple lived in virtue, according to the laws of God. Every day, during the evening and morning prayers, the spouses made at least a hundred prostrations. Despite the fact that Juliania's father was a literate man and collected handwritten books, she herself was not literate. Therefore, George read aloud to his wife the Holy Scriptures, the lives of the saints, the works of Cosmas the Presbyter.

The Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker were especially revered by Juliania, the images of which 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 she was haunted by demons threatening death if she did not stop her good deeds. And both times, after the desperate prayers of Juliana, Nicholas the Wonderworker appeared to her, saving the prayingintercession.

Acts of Godly Spouses

The young couple helped the needy a lot, distributing food in Lazarevsky and sending alms to the dungeons. The virtue of the spouses spread not only within the Murom estate. Osoryins in the Nizhny Novgorod district also owned the Berezopol estate, where there was a church in the name of George the Victorious. Under her, the spouses established a temporary shelter and distribution of food to the poor:

…Two cells of the poor, fed by the Church of God.

But many of the blessings of St. Juliana of Lazarevskaya-Muromskaya had to be performed in secret from her father-in-law with her mother-in-law, especially when her husband, the righteous Georgy, was away on business. During a terrible famine, she gave the food received from her mother-in-law for her livelihood to the poor.

And during the plague, not fearing to get infected, St. Juliana secretly healed the sick from her relatives, washed them in the family bath, praying for recovery. She washed the dead, paid for their burial, ordered magpie and prayed for the dead.

In the years 1550-1560, having lived to a ripe old age, George's parents died, while he himself was in Astrakhan in the service. According to the customs of the family, the elder Osorins took monastic tonsure before their death, and Juliana gave them a proper burial with honor:

…I gave a lot of alms and magpies for them, and commanded them to serve a liturgy on them, and in your house you give rest to the mnih and the poor for all 40 for all days… and send alms to the dungeons.

Parental destiny of Julianaand George

The righteous spouses had 13 children (3 girls and 10 boys), of which six died in infancy. The names with the dates of birth of five sons and a daughter who survived to adulthood are known: Gregory (1574), Kallistrat (1578), Ivan (1580), George (1587), Dmitry (1588), the youngest child - Theodosia (1590), who accepted monasticism and later became the locally venerated Saint Theodosius.

In 1588, the eldest son died at the hands of a courtyard man. Around 1590, the son Gregory was killed in the war. Having humbly endured the death of babies, Saint Juliana, after the death of her eldest sons, asked her husband for permission to become a monk. George refused and read to her the words from the writings of Cosmas the presbyter:

Nothing is used by black robes, but we do not do a little business. Deeds save a person, not garments. Even if he lives in the world, but he who fulfills the Mnishe, he will not destroy his reward. Not a place saves a person, but a temper.

The righteous couple made a commitment to refrain from further marital intimacy. They observed fasts even more strictly and spent more time in prayers. However, Juliana considered this insufficient, and after all the household members fell asleep, she became up to prayer until dawn. In the morning, the righteous woman went to matins and to the liturgy in the church, then took care of the household, helped the poor, orphans and widows:

…You are more devoted to manual work and you build your house in a charitable way.

Death of husband

In constant prayer andservice, without marital intimacy, like brother and sister, the holy spouses lived for several years. Righteous George died about 1592-1593 and was buried with honor in the Lazarevskaya Church. The Holy Righteous Juliana of Lazarevskaya-Murom honored his memory with prayers, church singing, magpies and alms. After the death of George, the righteous woman went to church every day, devoting herself to serving God and helping others. Saint Juliana gave all her savings to those in need, and when they were not enough, she borrowed funds:

…Immensely doing alms, as if many times I didn’t leave a single piece of silver with her… and she borrowed, giving alms to the poor.

Church apparition

In the interval between 1593 and 1598 again there was pestilence, famine, and in winter there were severe frosts, which had not been in the Murom lands for a long time. Juliana was over the age of 60, and the money that her sons gave her to buy warm clothes, she distributed to the poor. Therefore, in severe frost, the righteous did not go to Lazarus Church. Once in the temple at one of the services, the priest heard a voice coming from the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos:

Shedrtsy gracious Ulyanea: why doesn't go to church to pray? And her prayer at home is pleasing to God, but not like church prayer. You read her, for she is already at least 60 years old, and the Holy Spirit will rest on her.

The priest rushed to the Osorins' house, asking for forgiveness, fell at the feet of the righteous woman and told her about his vision. The saint was annoyed by the fact that the altar attendant on the way to her had managed to tell many people about the miracle he had witnessed. Juliana, having convinced the priest that he was “tempted”, asked him not to tell anyone about the vision. And she herself, in thin clothes, hurried through the bitter frost to the church, and there St. Juliana began to pray fervently at the icon of the Virgin.

… With warm tears, having performed a prayer service, kissing the icon of the Mother of God. And from then on, more striving for God, going to church.

The Times of the Great Famine

Juliania continued to do alms, leaving funds only for the most necessary things in the house, and enough food to keep her and the servants from starving. But a monstrous famine occurred in most of Russia in 1601-1603. Starved 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 Juliana yielded no grain, the cattle fell, and there were no supplies from previous years. St. Juliana sold off everything that remained on the farm: surviving livestock, utensils, clothes. With the proceeds, while she herself was starving and reaching extreme poverty, she fed servants and people dying of exhaustion with rye bread:

In the house… her food was scarce and all the necessary things, as if by no means did her whole life sprout from the earth… the horses and cattle were withered. The righteous woman asked household members and servants “not to touch anything at all.”

…Come to the last poverty, as if not a single grain was left in her house, but do not be confused about that, but put all your hope in God.

Hunger andThe cold brought sickness, and a cholera epidemic broke out. For this reason, Juliana moved to the estate of her late husband in the village of Vochnevo near Murom, where there was no temple. The righteous woman was overcome by old age and poverty, and the nearest church was in “two fields” (about 4 km) from her house. Saint Juliana was forced to perform only domestic prayer, which saddened her a lot.

During the Great Famine, many landlords gave freedom to their peasants, not being able to feed them. The righteous woman also freed her servants, but the most devoted of them did not want to leave the mistress, preferring to endure disasters with her. The famine continued to rage, and all the bread ran out. Juliana, with her children and the remaining servants, collected tree bark with quinoa, ground it into flour, from which she baked bread with prayer. It was enough not only for households, but also for distribution to the starving. The beggars who ate her bread told other philanthropists that the righteous widow had "painfully sweet bread." Neighboring landowners sent their serfs to ask for bread at the courtyard of Juliana, and after tasting it, they admitted that “it is much more than a servant of the righteous” to bake such delicious bread. They were unaware - "her prayer is sweet bread."

Death and finding of relics

At the end of December 1603, Juliana fell ill. She spent another week in unceasing prayer. On the second day of January 1604, her spiritual father, the priest Athanasius, communed the righteous woman, after which she said goodbye to the children and servants, admonishing them about love, prayer, almsgiving and other virtues. After this Saint Juliana rested, andmiraculous signs accompanied her death:

…Everyone saw a circle of gold around her head… in a crate… saw a light and a candle burning and a great fragrance came to you.

According to the dying will of St. Juliana, her body was transferred from Vochnev to Lazarevo. There, on January 10, 1604, near the north side of the church of St. Lazarus, the remains of the righteous woman were buried next to the tomb of George the spouse. Over the graves of the pious couple in 1613-1615, a warm wooden church of the Archangel Michael was erected. Later, their daughter, Theodosius, the schema-maiden, was buried near her parents. The local population of Murom and, to some extent, Nizhny Novgorod district venerated Saints Juliana, George and Theodosia.

In 1614, when George, the son of Ivan Osorin, was buried next to his ancestors, the process of finding the relics of Juliana was carried out. The tomb was opened and the incorruptible relics of the saint were found in it, and the tomb was full of heavenly fragrant myrrh, after anointing with which many sick people 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 finding her relics. The memory is made according to St. Juliana on the day of death - January 2 according to the Julian and 15 according to the Gregorian calendar.

Reverence

After finding the relics of Juliana, her son Callistratus wrote the life of the saint. It is believed that he also composed the service to the holy righteous. Since 1801, the Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal forbade the service of prayer services to the holy spouses, and their icons were removed from the Lazarevskaya Church. During the fire of 1811, which happened intemple, the relics of Juliana suffered and, after the construction of the stone church, were placed on the new main throne of the Archangel Michael. From 1867-1868, the service in the Lazarevsky Church of prayers for Julian and George was resumed.

In October 1889, solemnly, with a large crowd of people, the relics of the saint were transferred into an oak coffin, which was placed in a cypress shrine, richly trimmed and gilded with chased copper.

By order of the Soviet authorities, the relics of Saint Juliana were examined twice in 1924 and 1930. After the second inspection, the tomb entered the Murom Museum of Local Lore, where, as anti-religious propaganda, there were already shrines with the remains of other local miracle-working saints. Unexpectedly for the authorities, believers began to go to the museum instead of the church to venerate the holy relics. Therefore, the crayfish were soon removed to the museum storeroom. The relics of Saint Juliana were kept there until 1989, after which they were transferred to the Murom Annunciation Cathedral. And since 1993, they have been moved to the Murom Nikolo-Naberezhnaya Church, where they are currently located.

The troparion and the prayer to St. Juliana Lazarevskaya are given below (with the spelling and style preserved).

Troparion (tone 4):

Enlightened by Divine grace, and after death, the Lordship of your life revealed thou:

exude more fragrant myrrh to all those who are sick for healing, with faith coming to your relics, righteous mother Julian, Pray to Christ God

be saved our souls.

Prayer:

Our consolation and praise, Juliania, God-wise dove, like a phoenix, gloriously flourishing, sacred and silver-bearing virtues, you flew up to the height of the Kingdom of Heaven! Today we joyfully bring laudatory singing of your memory, since Christ has crowned you with miraculous incorruption and glorify you with the grace of healing. Wounded by the love of Christ, from youth you kept purity of soul and body, but you loved fasting and abstinence, in the image of grace helping you, you trampled all the passions of this world, and, like a bee, wisely finding the color of virtues, the sweet honey of the Holy Spirit in your heart you instilled and, while still in the flesh, you were honored with a visit to the Mother of God. We diligently pray to you: pray, madam, that in the Trinity the glorious God with your prayers will give us many years of he alth and salvation, peace and abundance of the fruits of the earth and victory and overcoming the enemies. Save with your intercession, reverend mother, the country of Russia and this city and all the cities and countries of Christianity are unharmed from all the slander and intrigues of the enemy. Remember, madam, your wretched servant, who is coming to you today in prayer, but through all your life more than all the people who have sinned, both bring warm repentance for these and bring forgiveness of sins to God with your prayers, ask for forgiveness, as if freed from sinful passions, bring you thanksgiving singing let us always sweat and glorify all the good Giver of God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.

The relics of St. Juliana were examined twice by order of the Soviet authorities: in 1924 and 1930year. 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 shrines with the remains of other local miracle-working saints. Unexpectedly for the authorities, believers began to go to the museum instead of the church to venerate the holy relics. Therefore, the crayfish were soon removed to the museum storeroom. The relics of Saint Juliana 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-Embankment Church, where they are currently located.

Other Christian Saints

The Russian Orthodox Church venerates several holy women bearing the name Juliana. The holiness of each of the ascetics of the Lord consisted in the Christian exploits of piety, indestructible adherence to the faith of Christ, virtue, chastity. Holy Great Martyr Juliana of Nicoim, Juliania Vyazemskaya, Juliania Olshanskaya - miracles and signs accompanied the deaths and remains of these righteous wives. A prayerful appeal with faith to their images grants help and intercession, and not only as a heavenly patron for Ulyana and women with other forms of this name, but also for all Christians.

Juliania Olshanskaya

After joining most of the Ukrainian lands to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Prince Georgy (Yuri) Olshansky ruled in Kyiv in the middle of the 16th century. He was a famous military commander, a pious man, a generous patron and patron of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. His daughter, Princess Juliana Yurievna, died an innocent virgin before she was 16 years old. She was buried near the walls of the main Kiev-Pechersk temple. A few decades later, in the first quarter of the 17th century, when a grave was being dug for a new burial near the Assumption Cathedral, a coffin was discovered. The inscription on the silver tablet said:

Iuliania, Princess Olshanskaya, daughter of Prince Georgy Olshansky, who passed away as a virgin, in the summer of the 16th.

Opening the robe, those present saw the body of the princess, not subject to decay. The tomb with the remains was transferred to the temple. And some time later, under the Metropolitan of Kiev, Peter Mohyla, the relics were placed in a new shrine. The reason for this was the appearance of St. Juliana of Olshanskaya in a dream to the rector of the Caves Monastery, in which the maiden reproached the archimandrite for neglecting her relics and his lack of faith. The inscription was made on the new receptacle of imperishable remains:

According to the will of the Creator of heaven and earth, Juliana lives in all summer, helper and great intercessor in Heaven. Here the bones are a cure for all suffering… You adorn the villages of Paradise, Juliana, like a beautiful flower…

The veneration of Juliana Olshanskaya by the Orthodox Church began after one incident. An intruder entered the Great Lavra Church under the pretext of worshiping holy relics. At his request to venerate the relics of the righteous Juliana, a shrine 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 of Olshanskaya punished the thief, and a lot more happened at the shrine with her remains.healings and miracles. The relics of the saint were badly damaged by the fire of 1718 and were transferred to a new shrine installed in the Anthony (Near) caves. These are one and two cases of burial of holy women in the Lavra caves.

Righteous Juliana of Olshanskaya is revered as the patroness of innocent virgins, a healer of spiritual ailments and mental illnesses, an assistant to Orthodox women and one of the first intercessors for them before the Most Holy Theotokos and the Throne of the Holy Trinity. Commemoration takes place on July 6 (19 according to the new style). Troparion and prayer to St. Juliana of Olshanskaya are presented below.

Troparion:

Like the immaculate bride of the Imperishable Bridegroom of Christ, the righteous virgin Juliana, with a bright candle of good deeds, you entered His heavenly chamber and there you enjoy eternal blessedness with the saints. By the same moth, thou didst love Him, and Thou didst betroth thy virginity to Him, that our souls may be saved.

Prayer:

Oh, holy righteous virgin Juliania, Princess Olshanskaya, helper to all who yearn for salvation, healing from diseases of souls and bodies! Oh, holy lamb of God, as if having the gift of many diseases to heal and protect from all the machinations of enemies, heal our spiritual passions and alleviate serious bodily illnesses, grant joy in sorrow and deliver us from all troubles and misfortunes. Look at all that is coming with your honest relic (icon) asking for your help with a contrite heart and a humble spirit, may we bring spiritual fruits in all our life: love, goodness, mercy, faith, meekness, abstinence, may we be honored with eternal life and yeswe protect with your love, we sing to the Lord Jesus Christ who glorified you. All glory and honor befits Him with His Beginningless Father and His Most Holy Life-Giving Spirit, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen.

St. Juliana, Princess Vyazemskaya

After the capture and liquidation of the principality of Smolensk by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1404, Yuri Svyatoslavich, Grand Duke of Smolensk, was expelled from his lands by the Lithuanians. In exile, he was accompanied by Prince Vyazemsky Simeon Mstislavich with his wife Juliana. Both specific rulers came from the Rostislavovich dynasty, the ruling branch of the Rurik dynasty. Prince Smolensky was captivated by the beauty of the wife of his friend and colleague, and in Torzhok, where Yuri Svyatoslavovich was appointed governor by the Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich, he killed Simen Mstislavich during a feast in order to forcibly take possession of his wife. The legend about those bloody events of 1406 and the further fate of Prince Yuri are described in the illustrated chronicle of world and Russian history - the “Face Chronicle Code”, and later rewritten in the “Power Book”:

… And the Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich made him viceroy in Torzhok, and there he innocently killed the servant Prince Semyon Mstislavich Vyazemsky and his princess Juliana, since, seized with a carnal desire for his wife, he took her to his house, wanting to cohabitate with her. The princess, not wanting this, said, “Oh, prince, what do you think, how can I leave my living husband and go to you?” He wanted to lie down with her, she resisted him, grabbed a knife and stabbed him in the muscle. He got angry and soon killed her husbandPrince Semyon Mstislavich Vyazemsky, who served with him, shed blood for him and was not guilty of anything before him, since he did not teach his wife to do this to the prince. And he ordered that the princess's hands and feet be cut off and thrown into the water. The servants did what they ordered, threw her into the water, it became a sin and a great shame for Prince Yuri, not wanting to endure his misfortune and shame, and dishonor, he fled to the Horde …

…he died not in his Grand Duchy of Smolensk, but wandering in a foreign country, wandering in exile, moving from place to place in the deserts of his great reign of Smolensk, deprived of his fatherland and grandfather, his Grand Duchess, children and brothers, relatives, their princes and boyars, governor and servants.

A few months after the villainy committed by Prince Yuri at the feast, the body of St. Juliana Vyazemskaya, floating against the current of the Tvertsa River, was discovered by a certain peasant. He heard a heavenly voice, which commanded to gather church servants and bury the body of the martyr 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 body of the princess was buried with all honors, and in subsequent years the Church recorded many cases of healings at her tomb.

During the repair in 1815 in the Transfiguration Cathedral, the coffin of St. Juliana Vyazemskaya was opened. Many of those present were then healed. The relics were transferred to the reliquary, which you set up in the limit built in honor of the martyr. After the revolution, the temple, by order of the new authorities, wasclosed, and the relics were moved 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 the great sacrament of the Orthodox Church. A faithful wife and helper to her husband in his labors, the holy martyr Juliana Vyazemskaya is the guardian of marriage bonds, the defender of marital fidelity and chastity. The memory of the blessed princess is celebrated on January 3, on the day of her martyrdom, and on June 15, on the day of finding the relics of the saint.

Saint Juliana of Nicomedia

The ancient Mediterranean city of Nicomedia from 286 to 324 AD 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 Juliana of Nicomedia.

Her name is included in the lists of saints of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. The earliest mention of a martyr is found in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum ("Martyrology of Saint Jerome"), a list of Christian saints compiled around 362. Later, in the 7th-8th centuries, the Benedictine monk and authoritative religious historian Bede the Venerable for the first time set forth in detail the deeds of St. Juliana in his Martyrology. The story of the righteous woman described by the Benedictine was based mainly on a legend, and it is not known how many real facts shecontained.

Written evidence has been preserved of how, at the beginning of the 13th century, the remains of the saint were transported to Naples. After this, the veneration of the holy martyr Juliana spread in many countries of medieval Europe. The states of Italy, especially the environs of Naples, and the territory of the present-day Netherlands were distinguished by the greatest worship of the martyr. Over time, the legend of Juliana has acquired distinctive features in different regions.

In the "Martyrology of St. Jerome", the place and time of Juliana's birth are given as Cumy in Campania, approximately 286 AD, from where her family apparently moved to Nicomedia. According to the description of Bede the Venerable, Saint Juliana was the daughter of an eminent Nicomedian named Africanus. As a child, her parents betrothed her to Eleusius, who later became a senator and one of the advisers to Emperor Diocletian (according to another version, Eleusius is an influential officer from Antioch). It was a time of the most severe persecution of Christians, and Juliana's parents, being pagans, were especially hostile to Christianity. But Juliana secretly received holy baptism. When the wedding time came, the girl refused to marry, which discouraged her parents and hurt her fiancé. 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. Eleusius, after talking with Juliana, found out that she secretly received baptism from her parents. According to one version, the groom promised the girl that by marrying him, she would not be able to renounce her faith. Notecategorically refused, which deeply hurt the pride of the failed groom.

Eleusius decided to take revenge on the shrew and informed the Roman authorities about her belonging to Christianity. Juliana was arrested and imprisoned. While she was in prison, Eleusius made a number of attempts to persuade the girl to enter into marriage with him. Thus, he would save her from execution and torture. But Saint Juliana preferred death to marriage with a pagan.

Angry Eleusius personally carried out the order of the Roman ruler and ruthlessly beat the righteous woman. After that, he burned her face with a red-hot iron and ordered her to look in the mirror to see her current "beauty". The martyr answered him with a smile:

When the righteous are resurrected, there will be no burns and wounds, but only the soul. Therefore, I prefer to endure bodily wounds now than soul wounds that torment forever.

According to one version of the legend, the holy martyr Juliana was publicly tortured with particular cruelty. But before the astonished crowd, her wounds miraculously healed. From a large gathering of people, several hundred people, seeing the miracle of healing and the strength of Juliana's faith, immediately believed in Christ and were immediately executed. After some time, the holy martyr Juliana was beheaded. Her execution took place around 304. According to legend, Eleusius was later eaten by a lion when he was shipwrecked on an unknown island.

The Day of Saint Juliana of Nicomedia is celebrated by Orthodox Christians on December 21 (according to Juliancalendar) or January 3 (Gregorian), and Catholics - February 16. In prayer, the Holy Great Martyr Juliana is addressed for the healing of diseases and especially bodily wounds.

Troparion, tone 4:

Your Lamb, Jesus, Juliana / calls with a great voice: / I love you, my bridegroom, / and, I seek you, I suffer, / and I am crucified, and I am buried in Your baptism, / and I suffer for Your sake, / like yes I reign in You, / and I die for You, and I live with You, / but, as an immaculate sacrifice, accept me, sacrificed to You with love. / Through prayers, / as merciful, save our souls.

Kontakion, tone 3:

Virginity has been cleansed with kindness, virgin, / and the torment of the crown, Juliana, now married, / give healing and salvation to those in need and ailments, / to those who approach your race: / Christ exudes divine grace and eternal life.

Juliania of Nicomedia is sometimes confused with the martyr from the same city, Juliania of Iliopolis, 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.