Hieromartyr Hieromartyr Cyprian and Martyr Justina of Antioch (Nicomedia)

Hieromartyr Cyprian was born in Antioch to a pagan family, was educated in Athens, Egypt, and Babylon, where he learned sorcery and served idols as an influential magician. A pagan youth named Aglaidas, seeking the affection of the Christian virgin Justina, turned to Cyprian for help; Cyprian tried three times to use sorcery to make her fall, but each time the demonic illusions were dispelled by the power of her prayer and the sign of the cross. Convinced of the powerlessness of his art before the power of Christ, Cyprian burned his magic books, turned to the Bishop of Antioch, was baptized, and, passing through all degrees of the priesthood, became a bishop. Justina was made a deaconess and abbess of a women's community. During the persecution of Emperor Diocletian, both were seized by the ruler of Nicomedia, Eutolmius, subjected to cruel torture, and thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch, from which they emerged unharmed, and were then beheaded in 304 on the bank of the river Gallus near Nicomedia. Their memory is kept on October 2/15.