Sts Adrian and Natalia
Acrylic and 23K Gold Leaf on Wood Panel
7" x 10"

This icon was commissioned by a family who has recently celebrated baptism of their daughter, Natalie. God grant her, and her parents, many years!

Sts Adrian (Hadrian) and Natalia were married for one year prior to their martyrdom, and lived in Nicomedia during the time of Emperor Maximian in the early fourth century.

During the Great Persecution in the early fourth century, Adrian, a Herculian Guard of the Roman Emperor, encountered a group of martyrs and asked them why they were willing to endure such tortures for their faith. They replied that they were suffering in order to gain the good things prepared by God for those who suffered for His sake, "which neither eye has seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man" (I Cor. 2:9). Upon hearing these words, St Adrian told the scribes, "Write my name down also, for I am a Christian and I die gladly for Christ God."

When Adrian's young wife Natalia was told of her husband's conversion and of his imprisonment, she was not saddened, but greatly rejoiced for she was secretly a Christian herself and she knew the joy which now filled her husband's heart. Natalia continued to encourage her husband through cruel and severe tortures, asking him to pray for her.

After Adrian’s death, an army commander asked the emperor's approval to wed St. Natalia, who was both young and rich. But she hid herself away in Byzantium. St. Adrian appeared to her in a dream and said that she would soon be at rest in the Lord. St. Natalia, worn out by her former sufferings, soon fell asleep in the Lord.

Symbols: St Adrian, who was an officer at the imperial court, is shown wearing an armor. The cloak on his shoulders is red - color of martyrdom. His hand is raised as a sign of renunciation of this world. In the left hand Natalia is holding a handkerchief with which she mopped up her husband's blood.  In her right hand is the cross. Natalia's head cover is white, which stands for physical and spiritual purity.