Holy Martyrs Romanus and Barulas

Life

Holy Romanus was a deacon of the Church of Caesarea. Once he zealously preached the Gospel in Antioch. And when it was a certain idolatrous feast and the governor of Antioch, Asclepiades, wished to enter a pagan temple to offer sacrifice, Romanus stood before him and said to him: "Thou errest, O governor, when thou goest to idols; idols are not gods but Christ is the only true God." The enraged governor subjected Romanus to tortures, and Saint Romanus was beaten and scraped without mercy. At that moment Saint Romanus saw a child named Barulas and said to Asclepiades: "Even this little child is wiser than thou, old man, for he knows the true God while thou dost not." The governor began to question Barulas about the faith, and Barulas declared his faith in Christ the Lord as the only true God in opposition to the false idols. Then Asclepiades commanded that little Barulas be beheaded by the sword and that Saint Romanus be strangled in prison in the year 303. And thus both these martyrs inherited the Kingdom of Christ.