Emilian of Silistria

Emilian was a young Christian slave in Durostorum (modern Silistria) in the Roman province of Lower Moesia, on the Danube, during the brief restoration of paganism under the Emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363). When Julian's edicts began to favor pagan worship and the local prefect Capitolinus came to Durostorum to oversee the reopening of the temples, Emilian — a young man hardly out of his teens — took a hammer in the night and broke down the idols of his master's town.

In the morning, when the destruction was discovered, the prefect arrested the first pagan he saw at the scene; Emilian, learning that an innocent man was being held, came forward and confessed the deed himself. Capitolinus, recognizing in him both the youth and the social insignificance of a slave, attempted to terrify him into recanting; when this failed, he ordered Emilian burned at the stake on the banks of the Danube.

The synaxarion records that the flames refused to touch him as long as the spectators stood near, but turned upon some of the executioners themselves; when the watchers had withdrawn, Emilian gave up his soul in the fire. His relics were gathered by Christians of the town and buried with honor. His feast falls on July 18.