Nicomedia, 303. The public execution of the Roman commander George turned into events that led to the death of three more people from the inner circle of Emperor Diocletian. Two military dignitaries and the wife of the ruler adopted Christianity right at the instrument of torture.
The convict was tied to a mechanism with sharp iron blades. When the metal was rotating, it cut the flesh. At first the prisoner cried out to God, then fell silent. Diocletian, confident of death, ordered the body removed and went to the pagan sanctuary for sacrifice. Suddenly the sky turned black, a thunderstorm struck, a voice rang promising support. Eyewitnesses described a radiant young man who appeared at the wheel, who touched the tormented and said one word. George rose unharmed. The crowd froze in confusion, wondering if there was a mirage in front of them.
The two secret followers of Christ, Anatoly and Protoleon, who had a noble position, immediately and publicly called themselves Christians. The massacre followed immediately: they were taken aside and beheaded without any judicial procedure. Alexandra, the wife of the emperor, who was there, rushed to voice the same impulse, but the palace servant physically restrained her and took her away.
A week later, Diocletian signed the death warrant for both George and his wife. Alexander was taken to the place of execution. She did not resist, however, exhausted on the way, asked the guards to give her a short respite. Leaning her back against the stonework, the queen died quietly, without the intervention of the executioner.
Documentary evidence about the biographies of Anatoly and Protoleon is almost not preserved — their appearance is reconstructed exclusively according to oral church tradition. This gave rise to a duality in icon painting: figures are painted either in armor or in scarlet martyr robes. In the liturgical texts, a single formula for commemorating all three together with George and Alexandra was fixed.
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