03 Works, Today, March 9th, is The Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebastia’s Day, With Footnotes — #67
The Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebastia, were a group of Roman soldiers in the Legio XII Fulminata (Armed with Lightning), under one general, taken captive in the time of Licinius, in 320, victims of the persecutions of Licinius, who after 316, persecuted the Christians of the East.
They were stripped naked and cast onto a frozen lake at Sebastia in Pontus. They endured the entire night, encouraging each other to be patient. Some accounts say that their persecutors placed warm baths in their sight on the shore to entice them to renounce Christ. Finally one of their number, broken by his sufferings, apostatized and left the company. One of the guards, named Aglaius, saw in a vision thirty-nine wreaths descending from heaven onto the heads of the faithful sufferers, and was moved to declare himself a Christian. He was immediately sent to join the martyrs on the frozen lake, keeping the number of forty complete…