Holy 40 Martyrs of Sebaste (+320)
The holy 40 Martyrs of Sebaste (+320). In 313 Saint Constantine the Great (commemorated 21 May) issued a decree by which Christians could openly confess their faith and were made equal in rights with the pagans. But his co-ruler Licinius was a zealous pagan and cruelly persecuted the Christians in his domains.
At that time forty Cappadocian warriors were serving in Sebaste. They were Christians, and at a certain pagan festival they refused to offer sacrifice to the idols. By order of Agricolaus, the governor of Sebaste, the warriors were put in prison. Once, during prayer, they heard a voice from heaven: “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.”
A week later Lysias, a distinguished courtier, came to Sebaste to try the Christians. The saints answered him firmly: “Take away our ranks and our life too; dearest of all to us is Jesus Christ.” Lysias ordered the warriors to be stoned, but a miracle happened: the stones did not reach their mark and fell to the side. A stone thrown by Lysias struck Agricolaus in the face. The executioners understood that an invisible power was protecting the saints. At night, as they stood in prayer, the warriors again heard the voice of God: “He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Fear not, for yours are the incorruptible crowns of glory.”
The next day the holy warriors were stripped, led to a lake nearby, and made to stand all night in the icy water. To tempt the believers, a bath-house was heated close by. In the first hour of the night, when the cold became unbearable, one warrior’s resolve failed him: he broke away from his place and ran towards the bath-house, but his strength left him. He collapsed on the spot and died. In the third hour the Lord sent mercy to the sufferers: suddenly it grew light, and the water in the lake became warm. At that time the guards were asleep. Only one, named Aglaius, was awake. He saw crowns shining above the heads of the Christians standing in the lake. Aglaius counted thirty-nine crowns and understood that the warrior who had fled had not received the reward from the Lord. He woke the sleeping guards, threw off his clothes, declared, “I too am a Christian,” and joined the martyrs.
In the morning the pagans saw that the Cappadocian soldiers were alive, and the guard Aglaius was standing beside them. The holy martyrs were brought out of the lake and hacked to pieces with swords; then their bodies were burned and the charred bones thrown into the lake.
During the terrible torments the mother of the youngest of the soldiers, Meliton, encouraged her son and urged him to endure everything for the sake of the name of the Lord. The bodies of the martyrs were loaded onto carts and taken away to be burned, but the youth Meliton, who was still breathing, was left behind. His mother took her wounded son in her arms and laid him beside his departed comrades.
Three days after their end the martyrs appeared in a dream to the blessed Peter, Bishop of Sebaste, and asked him to commit their bones to the earth. At night the bishop, with several priests, gathered the holy relics of the martyrs and buried them with honour.
