St. Elian of Emesa day, February 6th

Coming soon, and on February 6th of each year the orthodox church arround the world celebrate the Feast Day of St. Elian of Homs, Syria.

St. Julian or Elian, was born to pagan parents in the city of Emesa, modern-day Homs, Syria, in the 3rd century. We do not know how he came to faith in Christ, but his life and death attest to the fact that he did. He became a skilled physician and surgeon. He not only gave his services for free, but he was known as a generous philanthropist. And he not only healed bodies, but led many others to faith in Christ as well. But the other doctors in the city were jealous of his skills and resented his generosity. The Roman governors were ordered to persecute Christians. Julian's father was a high-ranking officer in the city, so he arrested Bishop Silouan, Deacon Luke and Reader Mokimos, to torture them. They beat them; then dragged them through the city behind a chariot, in order to publicly terrorize the Christians. They were tortured repeatedly. Julian sneaked into the prison and tended to their wounds. There he was arrested and brought to his father, who turned him over to the governor. he witnessed the execution of Silouan, Luke and Mokimos. Then his father had him tied to a horse and dragged through the streets. He was imprisoned and tortured for months, but would not renounce the faith, instead he led all of the tormentors to Christ. Finally, his father had blacksmiths drive long spikes into Julian's head and feet. He walked to a cave outside of the city and yielded his soul into Christ's healing hands on February 6, 284. A beautiful church, St. Julian Antiochian Orthodox Church (Deir Mar Ilian), was built in Emesa in his honor. During renovations to the church in 1970, his coffin was rediscovered.

There are only two churches dedicated to this great saint: the original church of St. Elian in Homs, Syria, and the church of St. Ellien in Brownsville, PA. The relics of the holy doctor Elian, are kept inside a marble sarcophagus inside the south apse. The eyes of today’s visitors are irresistibly drawn to the impressive neo-Byzantine paintings made by the Romanian artists Gavril and Miha Morasan, whose work concluded the renovation of the church in the early 1970s1. In May 1970, while cleaning the walls before applying a fresh layer of plaster, wall paintings came to light inside and near the south apse, which were soon after restored by the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums. they contains Arab and Greek scripts dating back to the twelfth century AD and even as far back as the sixth century.. The pictures are of this church in Homs.