Martyr
Martyr Bassa Of Edessa
†нач. IV века
Also known as: Васса Алонская
Martyr Bassa of Edessa (Macedonia), of Alone — a noblewoman who was martyred together with her three sons (Theognius, Agapius, Pistus) under Emperor Maximian in the city of Edessa in Macedonia; she miraculously escaped death by fire, water, and beasts, and was later executed on the island of Alone.
Martyr Bassa came from the senatorial class and lived in the city of Edessa in Macedonia in the early 4th century, during the reign of Emperor Maximian. She received the Christian faith from her parents and raised her three sons — Theognius, Agapius, and Pistus — in it. When the emperor issued a decree ordering all subjects to sacrifice to pagan gods in honor of his birthday, St. Bassa and her sons firmly refused to comply and were seized. During her torments she was miraculously unharmed by fire, stoning, and the fangs of wild beasts. Brought to a pagan temple, she smashed a statue of Zeus, for which she was thrown into the depths of the sea — but unexpectedly a ship sailed up to her, and three radiant men lifted her aboard. Eight days later the ship landed on the island of Alone in the Sea of Marmara, near Cyzicus, where the martyr was beaten with rods for a long time and then beheaded. Her memory is kept on August 21/September 3 together with her martyred sons.