Doulas of Cilicia was an early Christian martyr who suffered during the imperial persecutions of the late third and early fourth centuries, before the Council of Nicaea. The accounts place him in the Roman province of Cilicia in Asia Minor, and he is commemorated on June 15. He is to be distinguished from a separate saint of the same name, Doulas the Passion-Bearer of Egypt, who is remembered on the same day.
The surviving notices of his life are brief and differ in incidental detail, but they agree that he was arrested for confessing Christ, brought before a Cilician governor named Maximus, subjected to repeated tortures, and put to death without renouncing his faith.
Timeline 3 moments
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Persecution under Maximian (305-313)Arrest and trialBy the OCA synaxarion, Doulas was a Christian of the city of Praetoriada who, at the height of the persecution, was arrested and sent for trial before Maximus, the governor of the district of Cilicia.
Before the tribunalConfession of ChristAt his interrogation he openly confessed Christ and denounced the worship of idols. The synaxarion relates that the governor, unable to overcome his arguments, had him tortured and returned to prison.
Final interrogationMartyrdomBy the OCA account his lower jaw and knees were broken and he was bound to the governor's chariot and dragged about, dying as he signed himself with the Sign of the Cross. A parallel tradition records scourging, the gridiron, and boiling oil, with death while he was being dragged toward Tarsus.
Contributions & Legacy
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Sources and Variant Accounts
Two strands of tradition preserve his memory. The OCA synaxarion names his birthplace as Praetoriada and describes the breaking of his jaw and knees and his death by being dragged behind the governor's chariot. A Western synaxarial tradition, reflected in the Wikipedia notice, instead names Zephirium in Cilicia and lists scourging, the gridiron, and scalding with boiling oil, ending with his death while being dragged toward Tarsus.
Both strands agree on the essentials: a martyrdom in Cilicia under a governor named Maximus, in the persecution era preceding the Council of Nicaea, commemorated on June 15. Because the documentation is sparse, the Wikipedia article is marked as a stub.
Relics
According to the OCA synaxarion, after his death his body was untied from the chariot and thrown into a river, and the current carried it to his native city. There shepherds' dogs are said to have found the body, one guarding it from birds while another brought a shepherd's robe to cover it; the shepherds then led local Christians to the body, who buried it with reverence.
