Family and Conversion of the Household
The sources present Galaction's life as beginning with the conversion of his parents. Kletophon and Leukippe are described as a rich and distinguished pagan couple who were long childless. By the account, an elderly monk — named in one source as Onuphrius — came to their home and spoke to Leukippe of the one true God, His omnipotence and mercy; she was converted and baptized, and her husband followed after their son's birth.
Galaction was raised in the Christian faith and, the sources say, given a fine education. From an early age he was drawn toward the monastic life, but he submitted to his father's wish that he be betrothed. One source places this betrothal at about the age of twenty-four.
Marriage Transformed into Monastic Witness
Rather than entering an ordinary married life, Galaction is said to have gradually led his betrothed, Episteme, to Christianity and to have baptized her himself; the same account adds that he baptized her servant, Eutolmius. The three then resolved, on Galaction's initiative, to devote themselves to monastic life.
They withdrew to Mount Publion, where separate communities for men and women existed. There Galaction and Episteme lived apart in their respective houses, given over to work, fasting, and prayer, and — according to the account — did not meet again until the time of their martyrdom.
Martyrdom
When persecution reached the region and the monasteries were discovered, Galaction did not flee but was seized. Episteme, the account relates, refused to be parted from him and asked to accept torture for Christ together with the man who had been both her betrothed and her teacher in the faith.
Both saints are described as having undergone severe tortures before being put to death. The Orthodox account names mutilation and beheading among their sufferings. The martyrdom is placed at Emesa, the city now called Homs in Syria, during the persecution associated with the emperor Decius in the mid-third century.
Veneration
Galaction and Episteme are commemorated together on November 5. As a married couple who together embraced continence, monastic life, and a shared martyrdom, they are remembered jointly rather than separately, and the record preserves them as a single named pair.
Belonging to the undivided Church of the pre-Nicene period, they are venerated as martyrs in both the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic traditions, with the same feast date of November 5.
