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- Martyrs Adrian and Natalia and 23 companions of Nicomedia (4th c.)
- "Husband and wife, they were both of noble and wealthy families in
Nicomedia. Adrian was the governor of the Praetorium and a pagan, and
Natalia was a secret Christian. They were both young, and had lived in
wedlock for thirteen months in all before their martyrdom. When the
wicked Emperor Maximian visited Nicomedia, he ordered that the
Christians be seized and put to torture. There were twenty-three
Christians hidden in a cave near the city. Someone handed them over to
the authorities and they were cruelly flogged with leather whips and
staves, and thrown into prison. They wee then taken from prison and
brought before the Praetor for their names to be noted. Adrian looked a
these people, tortured but unbowed, peaceful and meek, and he put them
under oath to say what they hoped for from their God, that they should
undergo such tortures. They spoke to him of the blessedness of the
righteous in the Kingdom of God. Hearing this, and again looking at
these people, Adrian suddenly turned to the scribe and said: 'Write my
name along with those of these saints; I also am a Christian.' When the
Emperor heard of this, he asked him: 'Have you lost your mind?' Adrian
replied: 'I haven't lost it, but found it!' Hearing this, Natalia
rejoiced greatly, and, when Adrian sat chained with the others in
prison, came and ministered to them all. When they flogged her husband
and put him to various tortures, she encouraged him to endure to the
end. After long torture and imprisonment, the Emperor ordered that they
be taken to the prison anvil, for their arms and legs to be broken with
hammers. This was done and Adrian, along with the twenty-three others,
breathed his last under the vicious tortures. Natalia took their relics
to Constantinople and there buried them. After several days, Adrian
appeared to her, bathed in light and beauty and calling her to come to
God, and she peacefully gave her soul into her Lord's hands." (Prologue)
source: http://www.abbamoses.com
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