Martyrs Paul and Juliana of Syria

Paul and Juliana were a brother and sister of Ptolemais in Phoenicia who, by tradition, suffered martyrdom during the reign of the emperor Aurelian (270-275). They are commemorated together on August 17, and their account is preserved as a single commemoration in the synaxarion.

According to the tradition, the occasion of Paul's arrest was the emperor's visit to Ptolemais: when Aurelian came to the city, Paul made the Sign of the Cross before him. He was seized and imprisoned, and the next day, brought to trial, openly and boldly confessed his faith in Christ, for which he was subjected to severe tortures. His sister Juliana, seeing his sufferings, reproached the emperor for his injustice and cruelty, and so was arrested and tortured alongside her brother.

The synaxarion relates that the siblings were beaten, their bodies torn with iron hooks, and burned over red-hot grates, yet their endurance could not be broken. Three of the soldiers charged with tormenting them were moved by the martyrs' courage and themselves confessed Christ; the tradition names them Quadratus, Acacius, and Stratonicus, and they too were put to death. At the last, Aurelian ordered Paul and Juliana to be beheaded, and the account relates that the brother and sister went to their execution singing.