Martyr Смарагд Севастийский

Martyr Smaragdus of Sebaste was one of the Forty Soldier-Martyrs of the Roman XII "Thundering" Legion who suffered for Christ around the year 320 in the city of Sebaste in Lesser Armenia, under the emperor Licinius, who had revoked the religious tolerance granted to Christians 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. The next morning their bodies were burned; Bishop Peter of Sebaste gathered and buried their remains. Smaragdus's name is preserved among the forty names in the testament the martyrs dictated before their execution, recorded in their Life. Their feast is kept on March 9/22.