Martyr Romanos the Deacon, of Cæsarea and the youth Barulas

Romanus was a deacon of the church of Caesarea in Palestine who lived in Antioch during the persecution of Diocletian. According to his Life, when the governor Asclepiades wanted to pull down the Christian church there, he urged the congregation to stand firm, and when pagans gathered for a festival he spoke out against the idols. He was beaten, hung up and torn with iron hooks.

With him was a boy named Barulas, who answered the governor's questions boldly and was whipped. When he was sentenced to be beheaded, his mother, who was present, took him in her arms and carried him to the place of execution, and buried his body afterwards. Romanus was condemned to the fire, but, says the Life, rain put it out. His tongue was cut out. He was strangled in prison in 303.