Martyrs Севастийские мчч. (40)

The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste were Christian soldiers of the Roman XII "Thundering" Legion who suffered for their faith in the city of Sebaste in Lesser Armenia around 320 AD, under co-emperor Licinius, who had revoked the religious tolerance granted to Christians by the Edict of Milan within his territories. The military commander Agricolaus demanded the soldiers offer sacrifice to the pagan gods; upon their refusal, they were imprisoned and tortured. When their faith remained unshaken, their persecutors condemned them to a slow death: stripped naked, they were left overnight on the ice of a lake near Sebaste, with a heated bathhouse nearby as temptation. One of the forty gave way and fled to the bath, where he died from the sudden change in temperature. The guard Aglaius, witnessing crowns of light above the remaining thirty-nine, confessed Christ, removed his own clothing, and joined the martyrs, restoring their number to forty. The next morning, while still alive, their legs were broken and their bodies burned; Bishop Peter of Sebaste gathered and buried their remains. Their feast is kept on March 9/22. In Russia their feast day is popularly called "Soroki," marked by baking lark-shaped Lenten pastries. One of the forty, Martyr Sacerdos, is already catalogued as a separate card in this database.