Life and Martyrdom
Julian was a native of the Phoenician city of Emesa, the modern Homs in Syria. He worked as a physician and, according to his life, healed not only bodily illnesses but also the soul, converting many to faith in Christ. For this reason he is sometimes counted among the Holy Unmercenary physicians, who healed without taking payment.
During a persecution of Christians, the bishop Silvanus, the deacon Luke, and the reader Mocius were condemned and led out to die. As they were taken to their execution, Julian approached to embrace and encourage them, urging them not to fear death for the Lord, and was seized on the spot. By the synaxarion account he was put to death by having his head, hands, and feet pierced with long nails. The Orthodox accounts place his suffering about the year 312 in the reign of the emperor Maximian; other traditions record an earlier date, in the late third century.