Holy Martyrs Julian and Basilissa

Life

They were both born from noble and wealthy parents. Married in wedlock, they vowed to live virginally as brother and sister. They distributed all their property to the poor, and they took monastic vows, and Julian founded a men's monastery, and Basilissa a women's monastery. Julian had up to ten thousand monks, and Basilissa up to a thousand nuns.

When fierce persecution of Christians arose under Diocletian, Basilissa prayed to God that not one of her nuns would be frightened by torments or depart from the Orthodox faith. The Lord heard the prayer of His worthy handmaiden and in the course of six months took unto Himself all the nuns, in order, and finally their abbess Basilissa. Before death Basilissa had a vision of her sisters from that world: they all appeared to her bright and joyful like the angels of God and they called their spiritual mother to come to them as soon as possible. Julian's monastery, however, was burned by fire by the tormentors, and Julian was inhumanly tortured and worn out by the most severe torments. In the torments the Lord encouraged and strengthened him, so that he endured everything heroically, maintained the faith, and glorified the name of Christ. Together with Julian were beheaded: the son and wife of the torturer Marcian; Celsus and Marionilla, who seeing Julian's heroism in enduring torments, converted themselves to the faith of Christ; twenty Roman soldiers; seven brothers from that place; the presbyter Anthony, and a certain Anastasius, whom Julian during the torment raised from the dead by prayer. All suffered honorably for Christ and became citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom around the year 313.

From the Hymn of Praise

Bound by marriage, more bound by Christ,A spiritual bond—the bond is more enduring.The Spirit inscribed them in the Book of the Living:"Brother Julian, sister Basilissa."