The Monks Julius the presbyter and Julian the Deacon

Commemorated on June 21

      The Monks Julius the presbyter and Julian the Deacon, brothers by birth, were natives of Myrmidonia. For his virtuous life Saint Julius was ordained to the priestly dignity, and his brother to the dignity of deacon. Inspired with zeal for the spreading of the Christian faith, the holy brothers received permission for the building of churches and set off preaching to remote sections East and West within the Roman empire, where pagan temples still existed and where offering of sacrifice to idols was still made. Visiting several lands, they converted many pagans to Christianity, persuading them not only by word, but also by numerous miracles. At Constantinople they turned to the pious emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450)with a request to build churches upon the places of pagan temples.
      Having received the blessing of the patriarch and the permission of the emperor, the holy brothers built many churches. The people considered it their duty to assist them in this matter. One time some people went on past a church being constructed. Fearing that they would begin to talk them into taking part in this work, they engaged in a deception, so as the quicker to get away. One of them feigned being dead, and when Saint Julius invited them to take part in the work, they begged off saying that they had to drive on by to bury a dead person. The saint asked: "Ye lie not, do you?" The passers-by persisted in the ruse. Thereupon the Monk Julian said to them: "So be it, according to your words". Having continued on some further distance, they discovered, that the one pretending to be dead actually was dead. After this, no one else dared to lie to the holy brothers.
      Foreseeing his own impending end, Saint Julius set off in search of a place for building by the count his hundredth church, which also he reckoned would be his last. Reaching Lake Mukoros, he saw amidst it a beautiful island. Because of the huge quantity of snakes on it, no one was able to settle there. The Monk Julius decided to build a church upon this island. Having prayed, he sailed off to the island on his mantle as though on a boat, and erected on it a cross. In the Name of God the holy ascetic ordered all the snakes to gather together for him and leave the island, dedicating it for an house of God and the servants of Christ. All the venomous vipers slithered into the lake and swimming it, they re-established themselves upon Mount Kamunkin.
      On the island Saint Julius built a church in honour of the holy Twelve Apostles. At this time his brother, Saint Julian, finished construction on a church nearby the city of Gaudiana and decided to build by the church a crypt for his brother Julius. The Monk Julius paid his brother a visit and advised him to hurry with the construction of the crypt, prophetically foretelling, that he mustneeds lie in it. And indeed, Saint Julian the Deacon soon died and was buried in the crypt built by him. The Monk Julius the Presbyter reverently made burial of his brother and returned to the island, where he himself soon died and was buried in the church of the Twelve Apostles built by him. From his grave many of the sick received healing. The blessed end of the holy brothers occurred after the first half of the V Century.