As a young man, he was a servant to the rich and depraved Roman woman Aglaida, with whom he had an impure relationship. She sent him to Asia to bring her the relics of a martyr, to have them as an amulet in the house. But Boniface in Tarsus, seeing the Christian martyrs: one with his legs cut off, another with his hands, a third with his eyes gouged out, a fourth on the gallows..., repented of his sinful life, wept bitterly and shouted to the judge that he was also a Christian. After they whipped him, they poured lead into his mouth, and finally cut him with a sword. Saint Boniface suffered for Christ in the year 290. Having received the body of Boniface, Aglaida built a church in which she placed his relics, and she herself repented and, having distributed all her possessions to the poor, withdrew from the world.

Saint Gregory (Grigentius), Bishop of Omirite. Saint Boniface the Merciful, Bishop of Ferentis. Venerable Elijah of Murom. Christmas Fast.