Icon Holy Forty Martyrs

Icon Holy Forty Martyrs polished with handmade silk screen printing on a polished gold background in various dimensions.

Celebration 27 August

All these forty Saints were soldiers in the most elite battalion of Licinius’ army. When he launched a persecution against the Christians, the Holy Forty were immediately arrested by the prefect Agricola (in Sebasteia). At first he praises them and promises them rewards and offices for denying their faith. Then one of the forty, Candide, replies: “We thank you for the praises of our valor. But Christ, in whom we believe, teaches us that every ruler should be offered what is due to him. And therefore to the king we offer military obedience.

But if, while we follow the Gospel, we do not harm the state, but rather benefit it by our service, why do you question us about the faith that forms such characters and leads to such works?” Agricola understood that he could not impose on them in a calm manner, and ordered them to be tortured. So, on a cold winter night, they were thrown into the cold waters of a lake. The torture was horrible. Their bodies began to bruise. But they encouraged each other, saying: “Harsh is the winter, but sweet is heaven. Let us endure a little and in one night we shall gain all eternity.”

As the torture progressed, only one man fainted and came out of the lake. But he was replaced by the guard (Aglaios), who saw the crowns over their heads. He confessed Christ, entered the lake, and together with the 39, he also received the crown of martyrdom, after they were half-dead, taken out of the lake in the morning and their legs crushed. The martyred remains were found by the Christians in a cliff, where they had been gathered by divine appointment and reverently buried.

In Evergetino it is mentioned that while the Holy Forty Martyrs were in the stage of sport having remained all night in the frozen lake and as they were being dragged to the shore to be crushed by the legs, the mother of one Martyr remained there suffering with them, watching her child, who was younger in age than all, lest, because of her youth and love of life, she should become timid and be found unworthy of the honor and order of the soldiers of Christ.

So she stood there and held out her hands to her child, saying: “My child, my sweetest child, be patient for a little while and you will become a child of the Heavenly Father. Fear not the torments. Behold, Christ is present as your helper. Nothing shall be bitter from now on, nothing painful shall be answered. All those things have passed away, for thou hast overcome them all by thy valor. Joy after them, comfort, gladness. All these things you will taste, because you will be close to Christ and will intercede for Him and for me who begat you.”

The relics of the Saints were found by divine vision, in the year 438 AD, by the Empress Pulcheria (see 17 February) hidden in the temple of St. Thyrsos, behind the pulpit, in the tomb of the deaconess Eusebeia in two silver cases, which, according to Eusebeia’s will, were deposited in her tomb on the part of her head. Afterwards Pulcheria built a temple outside the walls of Troadicea.

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