A Christian woman of Caesarea who, defrauded of her property and offered its return if only she would deny Christ, chose to lose all rather than her Lord, and was burned for the faith.
Feast Day
July 31
Also Jul 30
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Julitta was a Christian woman of Caesarea in Cappadocia who suffered martyrdom during the persecution under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). Her death is traditionally placed in the year 304 or 305.
Her martyrdom grew out of a dispute over her property. According to the accounts, a pagan seized her possessions unlawfully, and when she sought redress through the courts, her opponent denounced her as a Christian, placing her outside the protection of the law. Offered the return of her property if she would deny Christ, she refused, and she was put to death by fire.
She is distinct from Julitta the mother of the child-martyr Quiricus, commemorated on July 15. Her memory is kept on July 31 in the Slavic tradition and on July 30 in the Greek tradition.
Timeline 4 moments
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284-305Life under DiocletianJulitta lived at Caesarea in Cappadocia during the reign of the emperor Diocletian, a period of persecution of Christians.
before her martyrdomThe property disputeA pagan unlawfully seized her property. When Julitta turned to the courts for redress, her opponent reported to the judge that she was a Christian, which removed her from the law's protection.
c. 304-305Martyrdom by fireThe judge offered to restore her confiscated property if she would renounce Christ. She refused, and she was cast into a furnace and burned to death.
c. 375Encomium of St Basil the GreatRoughly seventy years after her death, Saint Basil the Great, himself of Caesarea, honored her with an encomium, which preserves the memory of her martyrdom and her veneration.
Contributions & Legacy
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The Trial and Martyrdom
The sources relate that a pagan unlawfully seized Julitta's property. By the Mystagogy account this neighbor took her fields, lands, animals, and household through blackmail, bribed judges, and false witnesses. When she pressed her case, her adversary denounced her before the magistrate as a Christian who refused pagan worship, which deprived her of legal standing.
The judge made the return of her property conditional on her denial of Christ. She refused the terms, professing that she would not renounce her Creator God even at the cost of this life and its glory, and she was thrown into a lit furnace and burned to death.
Veneration and the Encomium of St Basil
Saint Basil the Great, a fellow Caesarean, delivered an encomium in her honor about seventy years after her martyrdom, around 375. In it he attests that her relics enriched with blessings both the place and those who came to them.
By tradition her body remained unburnt in the fire, allowing Christians to take up her relics for veneration. The accounts also relate that the ground where her body rested produced a spring of pleasant water, in contrast to the brackish waters nearby, and that this spring was said to preserve health and relieve the sick.
Her companions & kin
A distinct martyr commemorated on July 15, not to be confused with Julitta of Caesarea.
Julitta, mother of Quiricus
Archbishop of Caesarea, who composed an encomium in her honor about seventy years after her martyrdom.
Basil the Great
Notes
Not Julitta the mother of Quiricus (OS-1533, Jul 15).
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints
