Martyr Iliy of Sebaste

Martyr Iliy was a soldier of the Roman XII Legion "Fulminata," stationed at Sebaste in Armenia. Under the governor Agricolaus, during the persecution of Emperor Licinius (c. 320), Iliy together with 39 other soldiers refused to sacrifice to pagan idols. For this all forty were stripped naked and driven onto the ice of a frozen lake for the whole night, condemned to die of cold; on the shore a warm bathhouse was set up to tempt the wavering — one soldier could not endure and, renouncing the faith, died in that bathhouse. The guard Aglaius, who according to tradition saw crowns descending upon the remaining 39 martyrs, came to believe and joined them, restoring the number to forty. The martyrs' bones remained undamaged by fire and were later gathered and distributed as relics.

Iliy is listed 25th in the traditional roster of the names of the Forty Martyrs, known from their dying testament, dictated to the youth Eunoikos: Kirion, Candidus, Domnus, Hesychius, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Eunoikos, Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Eutychius, John, Xanthius, Ilian, Sisinius, Angius, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecdicius, Lysimachus, Alexander, **Iliy**, Gorgonius, Theophilus, Dometian, Gaius, Leontius, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valerius, Philoctimon, Severian, Chudion, Meliton, Aglaius.