Martyr Varlaam of Cæsarea in Cappadocia

Varlaam is remembered as a martyr from the time of Diocletian, around 304. The Life that Rostov retells says he was an old man from Antioch in Syria who was arrested for confessing Christ, beaten with ox-hide whips and scraped with iron claws when he would not sacrifice.

The guards then took him to a pagan altar, stretched his hand over it and laid burning coals and incense on his palm, hoping that he would shake them off and be said to have made the offering. He did not move, and, says the Life, held his hand there until his fingers burned off and fell to the ground. He died soon after. Basil the Great of Caesarea preached a homily on the festival in his honour.