Victor and Stephanida

The Holy Martyr Victor was a soldier during the reign of Marcus Aurelius the Philosopher (161–180). When the emperor raised a persecution against the Christians, and the customary sacrifice to the gods was made the test of a soldier's loyalty to the gods, the emperor, and the state, Victor refused to offer it and confessed himself a Christian. He was handed over to torture but came through every torment unhurt. By the power of prayer, the tradition relates, he overcame a sorcerer set against him, who thereupon renounced his sorcery and became a Christian; and through Victor's prayers soldiers who had been struck blind suddenly received their sight.

Witnessing these wonders worked by the Lord through Victor, Stephanida — the young Christian wife of one of the men torturing him — openly glorified Christ. For this confession she was condemned to a cruel death: she was bound to two palm trees that had been bent down to the ground, and when the trees were released and sprang back they tore her in two. She was but fifteen (some accounts say sixteen) years old. Victor was then sentenced to be beheaded. Hearing the commander's order, he foretold that his executioners would all die within twelve days and that the commander would be taken captive by the enemy within twenty-four; and so, the account says, it came to pass. The martyrs suffered in the second century at Damascus, where their honoured relics were laid to rest.