The Persecution at Caesarea
The tradition places the deaths of the three virgins in 308, during the persecution associated with the emperor Maximian (Galerius), whose reign is given as 305 to 311. The governor of Palestine at this time was Firmilian, before whom Christians of the province were brought to trial and pressed to demonstrate their loyalty to the state cult by offering sacrifice.
Caesarea, the Roman administrative capital of Palestine, was the setting for many of these trials. The historian Eusebius, himself a resident of Caesarea, documented the executions of this period, and the commemoration of Ennatha, Valentina, and Paula belongs to this body of accounts of the Palestinian martyrs.
The Three Martyrs
Ennatha, of Gaza, was the first of the three to be brought to trial. Before the governor Firmilian she openly declared herself a Christian; according to the account she was beaten, then suspended from a pillar and scourged, and was sentenced to be beheaded.
Valentina, a native of Caesarea, was accused of refusing to worship the gods and was led to a temple to offer sacrifice. The account relates that she instead hurled a stone at the sacrifice and turned her back on it. After being beaten, she was condemned to be beheaded together with Ennatha.
Paula, of the region of Caesarea, was brought to trial last and was subjected to many torments, which the account says she endured with patience and courage. Giving thanks before her death, she was put to death by the sword. The commemoration thus records that the three virgins suffered scourging, fire, and beheading before their deaths at Caesarea.
Sources and Tradition
The suffering of Christians at Caesarea in Palestine in this period is described by Eusebius of Caesarea, a contemporary and eyewitness, whose account is the principal historical witness to the martyrs of the province. Later Greek and Slavic liturgical books preserve the commemoration with some variation in names and details, and the surviving traditions differ in certain particulars of the three martyrs' origins and the manner of their deaths.
