Commemorated on August 26
Adrian and Natalia were husband and wife, both of noble and wealthy families from Nicomedia. Adrian was a pagan and the head of the Praetorium. Natalie was secretly a Christian. They were both young and lived together in marriage for only thirteen months before their martyrdom.
When the wicked emperor Maximian visited Nicomedia, he ordered that Christians be seized and subjected to torture. Twenty-three Christians were hidden in a cave near the city. Someone reported them to the authorities. They were flogged cruelly with cattle whips, beaten with rods and and cast into an iron prison. Soon they were taken before the Praetor to register their names. Adrian observed these people, serene and meek, tortured but patient. He made them swear to tell him what they though their God would give them for enduring so many tortures. They told him of the blessedness of the righteous in the Kingdom of God. With that, Adrian turned to the scribe at once and said to him :”Write my name with these saints – I am a Christian also! “
When the emperor learned about this, he asked Adrian “Have you gone out of your mind?” Adrian replied, “I have not gone out of my mind – rather – I came to my senses.” When she heard of this, Natalia greatly rejoiced. As Adrian sat with the others, chained and in prison, she came and ministered to all of them. When they flogged and intensely tortured her husband, Natalia encouraged hum to endure to the end.
After lengthy torments and imprisonment, the emperor ordered the prisoner’s arms and legs be broken with a hammer and anvil. This was done. With twenty-three fellow Christian men, Adrian gave up his spirit under the greatest of tortures. Natalia took their relics to Argyropolis, near to Constantinople, and buried them honourably there. After a few days, Adrian appeared to her in heavenly radiance and called out that she should also come to God, and she peacefully gave up her spirit to God.
Troparion & Kontakion
Troparion — Tone 4
Your holy martyrs Adrian and Natalia, O Lord, / through their sufferings have received incorruptible crowns from You, our God. / For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries, / and shattered the powerless boldness of demons. / Through their intercessions, save our souls!
Kontakion — Tone 4
Martyr of Christ, Adrian, / you kept the words of your godly and devoted wife Natalia in your heart. / With her you accepted every kind of suffering and obtained the crown of victory!