The life of St Emilian of Silistria
When the emperor Julian the Apostate ordered that all subjects honor the old gods on pain of death, and the citizens of the city falsely declared there were no Christians among them, Emilian's own act gave him away: he went to the pagan temple and broke the idols with a hammer. His enraged master handed him over for judgment, and though beaten and threatened, Emilian would not deny Christ, declaring simply that Christ was his Lord.
The governor ordered him burned alive; tradition holds that the fire did not immediately take him but instead consumed several of the onlooking pagans, and that Emilian, unharmed, lay down peacefully among the dying coals and gave up his soul to God. His master's wife, herself a secret believer, gathered his remains and buried them; long afterward, when the persecution had ended, a church was raised in his memory and his relics transferred to Constantinople. He died in the year 363.
