Martyr Valerian of Tomis (Küstendje)

Martyr Valerian of Tomis suffered in the early fourth century during the reign of Emperor Licinius (307–324), who persecuted Christians in the eastern empire. He was one of several confessors serving at the imperial court, together with the martyrs Gordian, Macrobius, Elias, Zoticus, and Lucian. For their unwavering confession of Christ they were exiled to Scythia, a region along the lower Danube and Black Sea coast. In the city of Tomis (the ancient city now known as Constanța, Romania; in later Ottoman times called Küstendje, hence the saint's alternate epithet "of Küstendje") the martyrs Elias, Zoticus, Lucian, and Valerian were seized, tortured, and beheaded for refusing to renounce Christ. According to tradition, Saint Valerian wept bitterly at the grave of his martyred companions and, overcome with grief, died there. Tomis/Constanța should not be confused with Tomsk in Siberia or with Küstendil in Bulgaria — the name resemblance is coincidental.