Lives of all saints commemorated on June 22

The Holy Martyr Photina (Svetlana) the Samaritan Woman, her sons Victor (named Photinus) and Joses; and her sisters Anatola, Phota, Photis, Paraskevḗ, Kyriake; Nero’s daughter Domnina; and the Martyr Sebastian: The holy Martyr Photina was the Samaritan Woman, with whom the Savior conversed at Jacob’s Well (John. 4:5-42).

During the time of the emperor Nero (54-68), who displayed excessive cruelty against Christians, Saint Photina lived in Carthage with her younger son Joses and fearlessly preached the Gospel there. Her eldest son Victor fought bravely in the Roman army against barbarians, and was appointed military commander in the city of Attalia (Asia Minor). Later, Nero called him to Italy to arrest and punish Christians.

Sebastian, an official in Italy, said to Saint Victor, “I know that you, your mother and your brother, are followers of Christ. As a friend I advise you to submit to the will of the emperor. If you inform on any Christians, you will receive their wealth. I shall write to your mother and brother, asking them not to preach Christ in public. Let them practice their faith in secret.”

Saint Victor replied, “I want to be a preacher of Christianity like my mother and brother.” Sebastian said, “O Victor, we all know what woes await you, your mother and brother.” Then Sebastian suddenly felt a sharp pain in his eyes. He was dumbfounded, and his face was somber.

For three days he lay there blind, without uttering a word. On the fourth day he declared, “The God of the Christians is the only true God.” Saint Victor asked why Sebastian had suddenly changed his mind. Sebastian replied, “Because Christ is calling me.” Soon he was baptized, and immediately regained his sight. Saint Sebastian’s servants, after witnessing the miracle, were also baptized.

Reports of this reached Nero, and he commanded that the Christians be brought to him at Rome. Then the Lord Himself appeared to the confessors and said, “Fear not, for I am with you. Nero, and all who serve him, will be vanquished.” The Lord said to Saint Victor, “From this day forward, your name will be Photinus, because through you, many will be enlightened and will believe in Me.” The Lord then told the Christians to strengthen and encourage Saint Sebastian to peresevere until the end.

All these things, and even future events, were revealed to Saint Photina. She left Carthage in the company of several Christians and joined the confessors in Rome.

At Rome the emperor ordered the saints to be brought before him and he asked them whether they truly believed in Christ. All the confessors refused to renounce the Savior. Then the emperor gave orders to smash the martyrs’ finger joints. During the torments, the confessors felt no pain, and their hands remained unharmed.

Nero ordered that Saints Sebastian, Photinus and Joses be blinded and locked up in prison, and Saint Photina and her five sisters Anatola, Phota, Photis, Paraskevḗ and Kyriake were sent to the imperial court under the supervision of Nero’s daughter Domnina. Saint Photina converted both Domnina and all her servants to Christ. She also converted a sorcerer, who had brought her poisoned food to kill her.

Three years passed, and Nero sent to the prison for one of his servants, who had been locked up. The messengers reported to him that Saints Sebastian, Photinus and Joses, who had been blinded, had completely recovered, and that people were visiting them to hear their preaching, and indeed the whole prison had been transformed into a bright and fragrant place where God was glorified.

Nero then gave orders to crucify the saints, and to beat their naked bodies with straps. On the fourth day the emperor sent servants to see whether the martyrs were still alive. But, approaching the place of the tortures, the servants fell blind. An angel of the Lord freed the martyrs from their crosses and healed them. The saints took pity on the blinded servants, and restored their sight by their prayers to the Lord. Those who were healed came to believe in Christ and were soon baptized.

In an impotent rage Nero gave orders to flay the skin from Saint Photina and to throw the martyr down a well. Sebastian, Photinus and Joses had their legs cut off, and they were thrown to dogs, and then had their skin flayed off. The sisters of Saint Photina also suffered terrible torments. Nero gave orders to cut off their breasts and then to flay their skin. An expert in cruelty, the emperor readied the fiercest execution for Saint Photis: they tied her by the feet to the tops of two bent-over trees. When the ropes were cut the trees sprang upright and tore the martyr apart. The emperor ordered the others beheaded. Saint Photina was removed from the well and locked up in prison for twenty days.

After this Nero had her brought to him and asked if she would now relent and offer sacrifice to the idols. Saint Photina spit in the face of the emperor, and laughing at him, said, “O most impious of the blind, you profligate and stupid man! Do you think me so deluded that I would consent to renounce my Lord Christ and instead offer sacrifice to idols as blind as you?”

Hearing such words, Nero gave orders to again throw the martyr down the well, where she surrendered her soul to God (ca. 66).

On the Greek Calendar, Saint Photina is commemorated on February 26.

The Hieromartyr Eusebios (his name means pious) the Bishop of Samosata, stood firmly for the Orthodox Confession of Faith, proclaimed at the First Ecumenical Synod at Nicea in the year 325. Therefore, he suffered persecution by the Arians, and was repeatedly deprived of his See and banished. Emperor Constantius (337-361), who supported the Arians, learned that Saint Eusebios kept a conciliar decree regarding the election of the Orthodox Archbishop Meletios (February 12) to the See of Antioch. He was ordered to surrender the decree, but the Saint boldly refused to obey him. The enraged Emperor sent a message that if he did not surrender the decree, then his right hand would be cut off. Saint Eusebios stretched forth both hands to the emissary saying, “Cut them off, but I will not give up the conciliar decree, which denounces the wickedness and iniquity of the Arians.”

Emperor Constantius marveled at the hierarch's audacity, but did not harm him.

During the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363), even more difficult times ensued, and an open persecution against Christians began. Saint Eusebios concealed his identity and went about in the garb of a soldier all across Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine, urging Christians not to abandon the Orthodox Faith. He ordained priests and deacons for the desolated churches, and he consecrated hierarchs who renounced the Arian heresy. After Julian the Apostate’s death, he was succeeded by the devout Emperor Jovian (363-364), during whose reign the persecutions stopped. Returning from exile, Saint Meletios convened a local Council at Antioch in the year 379 on the advice of Saint Eusebios. Twenty-seven hierarchs participated, and the Council reaffirmed the Orthodox teaching of the First Ecumenical Council. The Arians signed the conciliar decree, fearing the steadfast defenders of Orthodoxy: the holy hierarchs Meletios, Eusebios and Pelagios, who had great influence with the Emperor. After Jovian's death, the Arian Valentinian (364-378) came to power.

The Orthodox were again subjected to persecution. Saint Meletios was banished to Armenia, Saint Pelagios to Arabia, and Saint Eusebios was condemned to exile in Thrace. After receiving the imperial decree, Saint Eusebios left Samosata by night, in order to prevent tumult among the people who esteemed him. When they learned of the hierarch's departure, the faithful followed after him with tears and begged him to return. The Saint refused the entreaty of those who had come, saying that he had to obey the authorities. The Saint urged his flock to hold fast to Orthodoxy, then blessed them and went to the place of his exile. The Arian Eunomios became Bishop of Samosata, but the people did not accept this heretic. The Orthodox would not go to his church and avoided meeting with him. The heretical Arian perceived that it was impossible to induce the Orthodox flock to follow him.

Emperor Gratian (375-383) succeeded to the throne, and all the Orthodox hierarchs who had been banished under the Arians were brought back from exile. Saint Eusebios also returned to Samosata and continued with the task of building up the Church. Along with Saint Meletios, he appointed Orthodox hierarchs and clergy to the Arian parishes. In the year 380 he arrived in the Arian city of Dolikhina to establish the Orthodox Bishop Marinus there. An Arian woman threw a roof tile at the holy hierarch’s head. As he lay dying, Saint Eusebios asked her for wine and begged those around not to harm her. The Saint's body was taken to Samosata and was buried by his flock. The Saint’s nephew Antiokhos succeeded him and the Church of Samosata continued to confess the Orthodox Faith, which was firmly spread by the efforts of the holy Hieromartyr Eusebios

The Holy Martyrs Zeno and Zenas lived in the Arabian city of Philadelphia, and led a pious life. Saint Zeno possessed a large fortune, but he distributed his substance to the poor and manumitted slaves. Together with his devoted servant Zenas, he went to the governor and urged him to give up idolatry and accept Christ. They were tied to pillars, struck with iron hooks, and their wounds were rubbed with vinegar and salt.

Their sides and chests were scorched with fire, they were thrown in a pit, and boiling oil was poured over the sufferers. The saints endured all the tortures with forbearance and by the power of God they remained alive. Finally, the martyrs were beheaded with a sword (+ 304).

Saint Galacteon was drowned in the sea for confessing faith in Christ. Saint Juliana was burned together with her son Saturninus because they were Christians.

Saint Alban (or Albanus), the protomartyr of Britain, was a Roman citizen who lived at Verulamium (modern Saint Albans), a few miles northwest of London, during a time of persecution. Nothing is known about his family or his occupation.

The chief magistrate of the city had orders to arrest all Christian clergy. One of them, a priest named Amphibalus, fled to Alban’s home in order to hide from the soldiers who wished to kill him. Alban was impressed by the priest’s constant prayer and vigil, and so he questioned Amphibalus about his beliefs. As a result, Alban came to believe in Christ and asked to be baptized.

Eventually, Amphibalus was forced to move on, and Alban changed clothes with him so that he could get away. The soldiers heard there was a priest hiding in Alban’s house, so they came to search it. Seeing Alban dressed in the priest’s clothes, they arrested him and brought him before the judge.

The magistrate was offering sacrifice to idols when Saint Alban appeared before him. After questioning him, he discovered how Alban and the priest had switched clothes. Furious because Alban had allowed a fugitive to escape, the magistrate threatened him with death unless he returned to paganism and revealed where Amphibalus had gone. Saint Alban replied, “I am also a Christian, and I worship the true God.”

After having the saint beaten and tortured, the magistrate threatened him with execution. Saint Alban rejoiced and glorified God. The magistrate ordered the soldiers to take Saint Alban to the Holmhurst Hill to be beheaded. When they came to the river Ver, they saw that the bridge was crowded with people who had come to witness Alban’s martyrdom. Since they could not proceed because of the multitude of people, Saint Alban prayed and made the Sign of the Cross over the river. At once, the waters parted so that they were able to cross over to the other side.

The executioner was so astonished by the miracle that he threw down his sword and refused to behead the saint. He was arrested, and another man was found to behead them both. There is a tradition that Saint Alban became thirsty while climbing the hill and asked for water. A small spring gushed forth near the top of the hill, and he was able to drink from it. Pilgrims used to come and drink from Saint Alban’s well, but it is now dry.

The date of Saint Alban’s martyrdom is uncertain, but it is believed that it took place during the reign of Decius (ca. 251) or Valerian (ca. 257). The eighteenth century Turin manuscript (which may be based on a fifth century source) suggests that Saint Alban may have been executed as early as 209, when the emperor Septimus Severus and his two sons were in Britain. The name of the executioner who was converted has not been preserved. The priest Amphibalus was ultimately caught and put to death at a place called Redbourn, four miles from Verulamium.

When people began to cry out against the magistrate, he put an end to the persecution. In later years a cathedral was built on the site of the martyrdom, and the relics of Saint Alban, the priest Amphibalus, and perhaps even the executioner were enshrined within. Saint Bede (May 27) tells us that miracles frequently took place at Saint Alban’s tomb. When the Danes invaded England in 860, the relics were removed for safekeeping, then later returned.

A new chapel and shrine were built for the relics in the early fourteenth century. Two hundred years later, during the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, the marble shrine was destroyed. Much later, the fragments of the shrine were reassembled on its former site. What happened to the relics is uncertain, but it is probable that they were either destroyed or buried in an unmarked spot.

Although Saint Alban is sometimes depicted in military garb, there is no evidence that he was a soldier. After all, he was living in a private home when he was arrested, and not in a barracks. There is a medieval painting in the south aisle beside the Choir in the Abbey which depicts Saint Alban with red hair. A medieval seal, now in the Durham Cathedral Chapter Library, shows him with a thick beard. He is stocky, with a high, round and balding forehead, and a cloak covers his left side and right shoulder.

No information on the life of this saint is available at this time.

No information on the life of this saint is available at this time.

Saint Gregory (Dascalu) was Metropolitan of Wallachia.

St Gregory was glorified by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2005, and is commemorated on June 22.