November 5verifiedThis page has been verified with a close reading. It should read in natural hagiographic English.

They were from the city of Emesa in Phoenicia, both of pagan parents. Galaction's mother was barren until she was baptized. After this she brought her husband also to the true Faith, and baptized and raised her son Galaction in the Christian Faith. When Galaction came of age for marriage, his good mother Leucippe reposed, and his father betrothed him to a certain maiden Episteme. Galaction would by no means enter into marriage, so he first counseled Episteme to be baptized, and after that to become a monastic together with him. Both withdrew to Mount Publion, Galaction to a men's monastery and Episteme to a women's monastery. And each of the two showed themselves to be a true luminary in their monastery. First in labor, first in prayer, first in humility and obedience, first in love. They did not leave the monastery, nor did they see each other again except before their death. A fierce persecution arose, and the two of them were brought to trial. And when they were mercilessly flogging Galaction, Episteme wept. Then they flogged her also. After this they cut off their hands, then their feet, and finally their heads. Eutolmius took their bodies and buried them honorably. This Eutolmius had been first a slave of Episteme's parents, and later a monk together with Galaction. He also wrote the life of these wondrous martyrs of Christ, who suffered and received crowns in heaven in the year 253.

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under His feet (Eph. 1:21).

Behold the height to which God has exalted human nature! For here the word is not about the divine nature of Christ but about the human, not about the eternal Word of God but about the Man Jesus, Whom God raised from the dead and exalted not only above all this visible and mortal world but also above the invisible and immortal, far above all angelic orders and heavenly powers, far above the entire manifest and unmanifest wondrous hierarchy of heaven, far above every created being, known and unknown, and far above every name in both worlds, material and spiritual. Do you see, brethren, how our most glorious Creator fulfilled His promise given to Adam, exiled from Paradise, and repeated still more clearly to Abraham, and repeated much more clearly through the prophets and David! Do you see how the Lord of Hosts began to glorify the human race by glorifying the Man Jesus, in Whom was incarnate the divinity of God the Son of God? As the firstfruits of glory, He first glorified Him, and then in order all those who were numbered among His own and marked by the grace of the Holy Spirit for eternal glory, and inscribed in the Book of Life. Not in vain does the Church sing to the Mother of God: "More honorable than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim." Where the Risen Lord was exalted, there also was exalted His Most Holy Mother of God, as well as His holy apostles, according to His word to His heavenly Father: "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am" (John 17:24). Such is the boundless consequence of God's descent to earth. Such is the inexpressible fruit of His sufferings.

O Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, equal only to Thy Father and to the Holy Spirit, help us to the end to extricate ourselves from the nethermost depths of stinking sins and sensual madness. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.