The Holy Martyr Eulalia.

Commemorated August 22 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion

From the Prologue

At the time of a terrible persecution of Christians in Spain, there was a maiden called Eulalia, born of Christian parents in Barcelona. Utterly consecrated to Christ her Bridegroom, and steeped in the Holy Scriptures, she applied herself steadfastly to voluntary asceticism of soul and body. When the torturer, Dacian, who was mercilessly slaughtering Christians in Spain, came to Barcelona, Eulalia slipped away from her parents by night, came before the torturer and, in the presence of many of the people, denounced him as a murderer of innocent people, and also pulled down idols, openly confessing her faith in Christ the living Lord. Dacian commanded in fury that she be stripped and beaten with rods, but the holy maiden showed that she did not feel the pain of the torture for her Christ. Then the torturer had her tied to a tree in the form of a Cross, and ordered that her flesh be burned with torches. The torturer asked her, where was her Christ to save her? Eulalia answered: 'He is here with me, but you cannot see Him because of your impurity.' Under great torture, Eulalia gave her soul to God and, when she breathed her last, the people saw a white dove emerge from her mouth. Then a sudden snowstorm came and covered the naked body of the martyr like a white garment. On the third day, St Felix came and, in grief, wept before the hanging body of Eulalia, and a smile appeared on the saint's dead face. Her parents came and, together with other Christians, buried the body of the holy maiden. She suffered for her Lord and entered into eternal joy at the beginning of the fourth century.

From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK