Martyr
Virgin Martyr Justina of Antioch
† 304
Martyr Justina of Antioch — a virgin who repelled demonic temptations sent by the sorcerer Cyprian (see the separate entry martyr_cyprian_antioch), thereby converting him to Christ; beheaded together with him at Nicomedia in 304.
St. Justina lived in Antioch in the late third century; having turned her own pagan parents to Christ, she devoted herself to the Heavenly Bridegroom, spending her days in fasting and prayer. A young man named Aglaidas, unable to win her hand, sought the aid of the renowned pagan sorcerer Cyprian, who sent a demon to inflame her with carnal passion — but Justina drove it off with the sign of the Cross and fervent prayer.
Cyprian dispatched ever more powerful demons against her, yet she overcame each one by fasting, prayer, and the power of the Cross, ultimately exhausting Cyprian's confidence in his own magic. Realizing the demons were powerless before the holy virgin, Cyprian renounced sorcery, burned his books of magic, and was baptized, later rising to become a priest and then bishop.
Under Diocletian's persecution, Cyprian (now a hieromartyr) and Justina were arrested and cruelly tortured — cast into a boiling cauldron from which they emerged unharmed — and were finally beheaded together at Nicomedia, along with the soldier Theoctistus, who openly confessed Christ upon witnessing their courage.
Their feast is kept on October 2/15 — the same date as Hieromartyr Cyprian, already covered in this database (martyr_cyprian_antioch).