Reviewed entry
MartyrPre-Nicene

Martyrs Galacteon Juliana, and Saturninus of Constantinople

Pre-Nicene era

Also known as Galacteon · Juliana · Saturninus

Christians of Constantinople who confessed Christ — Galacteon drowned in the sea, and Juliana with her son Saturninus given to the fire.

June 22New Calendar
Feast Day
July 5Old Calendar

Life

Galacteon, Juliana, and Saturninus were Christians of Constantinople commemorated together as martyrs on June 22. According to the synaxarion, Galacteon was drowned in the sea for confessing his faith in Christ, while Juliana was burned together with her son Saturninus because they were Christians.

They belong to the pre-Nicene period of persecution, but no dates of martyrdom or further biographical background survive in the accessible sources. The Eastern Orthodox liturgical tradition places all three martyrdoms in the district known as Petra, within Constantinople.

These are genuinely obscure figures: beyond the brief synaxarion notice and the calendar listings, no extended hagiography of them survives in the standard reference sources.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide
TroparionTone 4

Your holy martyrs Galacteon, Juliana, and Saturninus, O Lord,
through their sufferings have received incorruptible crowns from You, our God.
For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through their intercessions, save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Contributions & Legacy

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Commemoration

The three martyrs are commemorated on June 22, sharing the day with a number of other saints, among them the Hieromartyr Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata; the Martyrs Zeno and Zenas of Philadelphia; and, in the wider calendar, Saint Alban, protomartyr of Britain.

The Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar specifies the location of their deaths as the quarter called Petra in Constantinople, naming Galacteon's martyrdom as by drowning and that of Juliana and her son Saturninus as by fire.

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints