The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste or the Holy Forty (Ancient/Katharevousa Greek Ἃγιοι Τεσσεράκοντα, Demotic Άγιοι Σαράντα) were a group of Roman soldiers in the Legio XII Fulminata (Armed with Lightning) whose martyrdom in 320 for the Christian faith is recounted in traditional martyrologies.
They were killed near the city of Sebaste (present-day Sivas in Turkey), in Lesser Armenia, victims of the persecutions of Licinius, who after 316, persecuted the Christians of the East. The earliest account of their existence and martyrdom is given by bishop Basil of Caesarea (370–379) in a homily delivered on the feast of the Forty Martyrs. The feast is consequently more ancient than the episcopate of Basil, whose eulogy on them was pronounced only fifty or sixty years after martyrdom.
Read more about Forty Martyrs Of Sebaste: Account of Martyrdom, Early Veneration, A Recurring Theme in Orthodox Art, Veneration in The East, Veneration in The West, The Names of The Forty Martyrs
Famous quotes containing the words forty and/or martyrs:
“My time has come.
There are twenty people in my belly,
there is a magnitude of wings,
there are forty eyes shooting like arrows,
and they will all be born.
All be born in the yellow wind.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Would martyrs have sung in the flames for a mere inference, however inevitable it might be?”
—William James (1842–1910)