26TH AUGUST – ADRIAN AND HIS WIFE NATALIA
Husband and wife, they were both of noble and wealthy families in Nicomedia. Adrian was the governor of the Praetorium and a pagan, and Natalia was a secret Christian. They were both young and had lived together for 13 months before their martyrdom. When Emperor Maximian (235- 238) visited Nicomedia, he ordered that the Christians be seized and put to torture. There were 23 Christians hidden in a cave near the city. Someone handed them over to the authorities and they were cruelly flogged with leather whips and thrown into prison. They were then taken from prison and brought before the Praetor for their names to be noted. Adrian looked at these people, tortured but unbowed, peaceful and meek, and he put them under oath to say what they hoped for from their God, that they should undergo such tortures. They spoke to him about the Kingdom of God. Hearing this, and again looking at these people, Adrian suddenly turned to the scribe and said: “Write my name along with those of these saints; I also am a Christian”. Hearing this, Natalia rejoiced greatly, and, when Adrian sat chained with the others in prison, she came and ministered to them all. When Adrian was put to various tortures, Natalia encouraged him to endure to the end. After long torture and imprisonment, the Emperor ordered that they be taken to the prison anvil, for their arms and legs to be broken by hammers. This was done and Adrian, along with the 23 others, breathed his last under the vicious tortures. Natalia took their relics to Constantinople and buried them. Adrian appeared to Natalia bathed in light and beauty and calling her to come to God, and she peacefully gave her soul into her Lord's hands. (Published and Printed in Great Britain by Lazarica Press)