The Holy Martyr Julia the Virgin.

Commemorated July 16 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion

From the Prologue

She was born in Carthage of noble parents. When the Persians overran Carthage, many of the people were taken into slavery. St Julia was one of these, and was given to a Syrian merchant, who was a pagan. Seeing that Julia was a Christian, he urged her many times to deny Christ and become of one faith with him, but Julia steadfastly refused. As Julia was faithful and reliable in her work, the merchant left her in peace and spoke no more about faith. One day, the merchant loaded his ship with goods, took Julia with him and set off across the sea to a distant land to ply his trade. When they arrived at Corsica, there was a pagan festival in progress, and the merchant took part in the foul idolatry while Julia remained in the ship, weeping that so many people lived in foolish error, not knowing the truth. The pagans somehow came to know about her, dragged her off the ship in spite of her owner's efforts to prevent them, and began to torture her in terrible ways. They cut off her brests and threw her onto the rock, then crucified her, at which Julia gave her soul to God. Her death was revealed to some monks on the nearby island of Margarita (or Gorgona), and they went and buried the martyr's body. Many miracles were worked over St Julia's grave through the ages, and she herself appeared to various people from the other world. She suffered with honour and went to the Kingdom of God in the sixth century. After many years had passed, the faithful wanted to build a new church in honour of St Julia in another place, because the old church was small and dilapidated. They prepared the materials: the stone, bricks, sand and everything else that was needed, on the new site. But it happened that, at night, on the night before the day on which the foundations were to be laid, that the materials were carried by invisible hands back to the old church. In great perplexity, the people carried them to the new site again, but again the same thing happened: the materials were taken to the old site and left beside the church. The nightwatchman saw a maiden bathed in light, using white oxen to carry the materials to the old church. By this, they understood that St Julia did not wish her church to be built in another place, so they pulled down the old church and built the new one on the same spot.

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