In 361 the son of Constantine the Great, Constantius II, died childless. Constantine’s nephew Julian ascended the throne. He was kept for a long time in the provinces far from Byzantium, where he was imbued with the ideas of Greek philosophy and, apparently, as a consequence, paganism. Christians who were finally stopped from being persecuted were once again in danger. The emperor ordered the restoration of pagan temples, returned priests from oblivion, ordered sacrifices to the pagan gods.
In this uncertain and uncertain time, a warrior from Thrace, Barbarus, served in the Roman army. His legion fought against the Franks. The legion wasn’t doing well. In the forests of Europe, a story was repeated that occurred a thousand years earlier in desert Palestine. The giant Frankish warrior summoned the Romans to martial arts. There was no brave man. The Legion commander summoned Barbarus and asked him to fight. Barbarus went to battle with prayer and defeated the Frank. The Romans exulted. In joy, the emperor ordered a sacrifice and a feast. The barbarian could not participate in the pagan rite. He honestly confessed that he confessed Christ. The emperor was enraged and ordered the warrior to be punished. Bacchus, the commander of Barbarus and 2 warriors, Dionysius and Callimachus had to carry out the sentence — to kill the martyr with swords. But the swords left no marks on Barbarus’ body. When they saw this miracle, they believed in Christ. The enraged emperor ordered their heads cut off, which was done. Nothing happened with Barbarus. Burned, wheeled, starved, burned again — not even traces on the body remained.
After many attempts, the torturers finally managed to cut off his head. The satisfied emperor left, and the Christians took the body and buried it in Methon, in the Peloponnese.
The emperor, by the way, was killed a year later, so we can pretty much pinpoint when this event happened. That’s 361 or 362 years. Tradition says that Julian, an apostate, died with the words: “You have conquered, Galilean.”
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May 19
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