The Holy Martyrs Evilasius, Fausta and Maximus suffered during the persecution against Christians by the emperor Diocletian in the city of Cyzicus [Mezium], between 305-311.
Saint Evilasius was an eighty-year-old pagan priest who was ordered to turn Saint Fausta away from Christ. The girl bravely confessed her faith and was subjected to many cruel tortures. Strengthened by the Lord, she did not feel the pain. They locked her up in a wooden trunk, but the torturers got tired of trying to saw it and burn it in the fire. The holy martyr, and even the trunk, remained unharmed, guarded by divine power.
Evilasius was shaken by the manifest power of God, and he believed in the Savior, delaring that he was also a Christian.
The eparch Maximus was sent to investigate the matter for the emperor, and he began to torture the old man who had come to believe in Christ. Evilasius turned to Saint Fausta and asked her to pray for him, after which he bravely endured the tortures. They threw Saint Fausta to be eaten by vultures, but the creatures would not touch her. The thirteen-year-old girl was pierced with nails driven into her head and other parts of her body. Finally, they threw her into a boiling cauldron with Saint Evilasius. During this time the martyrs prayed for their torturers.
Seeing the faith and endurance of the saints, the eparch Maximus also was converted to Christ, and prayed to God for the forgiveness of his sins. Thrown into the same cauldron in which Saints Fausta and Evilasius suffered, he shared with them the crown of martyrdom.
Troparion — Tone 4
Your holy martyr Evilasius, O Lord, / through his suffering has received an incorruptible crown from You, our God. / For having Your strength, he laid low his adversaries, / and shattered the powerless boldness of demons. / Through his intercessions, save our souls!
