It was one of the strangest episodes in all of
military and Christian history--an army killing its own best soldiers. The
time: A.D. 320. The place: Sevaste, in present-day Turkey. The issue: Would
Christian soldiers obey and bow to pagan gods?
Governor Agricola spoke mildly but firmly. He had good
and strong warriors before him. He needed them. They must be brought into line.
"I am told you refuse to offer the sacrifice ordered by Emperor Licinius."
One of the soldiers answered on behalf of the rest.
"We will not sacrifice. To do so is to betray our holy faith."
"But what about your comrades? Consider--you
alone of Caesar's troops defy him! Think of the disgrace you bring upon your
legion. How can you do it?"
"To disgrace the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is
more terrible still."
A note of exasperation crept into the governor's
voice. "Give up this stubborn folly. You have no lord but Caesar! In his
name, I promise promotion to the first of you who steps forward and does his
duty." He paused a moment, expecting his lure would break their ranks.
None of them moved. He switched tactics. "You persist in your rebellion?
Then prepare for torture, prison, death! This is your last chance. Will you
obey your emperor?"
The soldiers stood firm, although they well knew the
governor would carry out his threat. They spoke: "Nothing you can offer us
would replace what we would lose in the next world. As for your threats--we've
learned to deny our bodies where the welfare of our souls is at stake."
Agricola ordered, "Flog them." Pairs of
guards seized each man and dragged them out into the cold where they were
stripped and tied to posts. Soon the swish of whips and the thud of blows
filled the air with groans. Hooks of iron tore the men's sides. Unbelievably,
although their flesh was bruised, their skins were tattered and their blood
flowed, not one of the forty surrendered.
"Chain them in my dungeons!" roared
Agricola. "We'll see what Lysias has to say about this."
Lysias, commander of the 12th Legion, was in no gentle
mood when the forty Christian soldiers were hauled before him a few days later.
His ride from Antioch to Sevaste had been tedious and cold. "You will obey
me," he said sternly, "or pay a sharp penalty."
The men answered him with respectful defiance, just as
they had Agricola. Lysias had not become a commander by coddling traitors, and
he did not intend to begin now. He motioned to Agricola.
Agricola came beside Lysias. As judge, he must make
these unbending men conform. But how? Just then, a frigid gale blew across the
frozen pond below and stabbed into his cheeks. It gave him an idea. "Take
them down to the pond," he ordered. Turning to the soldiers he added,
"You will stand naked on the ice until you agree to sacrifice to the
gods."
Agricola could hardly believe what his eyes saw next.
The rebels began stripping off their own clothes and running toward the pond in
the freezing March air. "We are soldiers of the Lord and fear no
hardship," shouted one. "What is our death but entrance into eternal
life?"
Sing It,
Brothers!
Striking up a song, the men marched onto the frozen
pond. Baffled, Agricola posted guards around them. He squinted into the falling
sun. Surely the bitter cold of evening would change their minds....
Wait! There was something else he could do. "Heat
baths of warm water," he ordered the guards. "Place them around the
pond. That ought to lure them out pretty quickly," he smirked.
The sun sank behind the hills. Then upon the night air
could be heard a prayer: "Lord, there are forty of us engaged in this
battle; grant that forty may be crowned and not one be missing from this sacred
number."
Standing on the shore, the shivering guards shouted
into the night. "Don't be idiots. What's the point? Come on out. Warm
yourselves!"
"Look," one of the guards suddenly
exclaimed, pointing toward the sky.
"What?" said his fellow guard, eyes probing
the darkness. "Its too dark to see anything. By Jove, I wish this was
over. I'm freezing out here."
"Don't you see them? Spirits...hovering with
golden crowns over those fellows heads, holding out rich robes for them!"
"Are you out of your mind? It's pitch black. Hey!
There's someone coming! It's one of them."
Babbling, one of the forty crawled toward them from
the ice. The two ran forward, grasped his shuddering arms and helped him into a
bath. But the heat was too much of a shock to his frozen system. He went into
convulsions and died.
The guard who had seen the vision of crowns, without
delay, shucked off his clothes and ran onto the ice. The martyrs would be forty
again!
When the sun rose, Agricola was told that the forty
were dead. "Well, get the bodies off the ice," he commanded.
"Burn them. And dump the ashes in the river."
The
Youngest Was Still Alive
The guards backed a wagon as near the pond as they
could and began stacking the stiff corpses onto it. Then a bizarre twist
occurred.
"Hey, we've got a live one here," a guard
shouted. "It's Melito. Poor fellow. He's just a kid."
"A local boy, too. That's his mom up there."
The soldier beckoned to the woman and she came near. "Listen, Mother, take
your boy home, save his life if you can. We'll look the other way."
"What kind of talk is that?" scolded the
woman. She seemed genuinely upset! The guards looked at each other in
astonishment. "Would you cheat him of his crown? I'll never let that
happen!" As the wagon began to roll away, she lifted her son with her
peasant's strength, hoisting him in with the others.
"Go, Son," she cried. "Go to the end of
this happy journey with your comrades so that you won't be the last to present
yourself before God."
One of the guards tapped the side of his head and
rolled his eyes upward. "Christians!" he muttered. "I just don't
understand them."
Fascinating
Facts Behind the Forty Martyrs of Sevaste
How many agreed to sacrifice? A legion consisted of
from 3,000 to 6,000 infantry plus cavalry. Apparently at least 2,960 men from
the Sevaste legion sacrificed at Licinius's order. Barely 1% bucked his demand!
The famous Thundering Legion. The legion stationed at
Sevaste may have been the famed Thundering Legion. Dating back to Caesar
Augustus, it took its name from a lightening emblem on its shields. The
Thundering Legion is connected with another unusual historical event. During
the reign of Marcus Aurelius, it was trapped in a dry valley and only saved
from dying of thirst by a furious thunderstorm which provided drinking water
and threw enemy soldiers into panic. Christian writers spoke of the thunderstorm
as a miracle in answer to the petitions of a group of praying Christian
soldiers. Pagan authors attributed it to sorcery or to the prayers of Marcus
Aurelius.
Why a legion of troops in Sevaste? Licinius had to
defend against Barbarians and Persians. Sevaste (now Sivas, Turkey) was a
logical place to station a sizable force to meet challenges from North and
East.
Save the remains. The bodies of the Forty were burned
and their ashes cast into a river. The current deposited fragments of bone at a
bend in the stream. Christians collected and preserved them as honored remains
to be kept among local churches.
Sevaste (now Sivas, Turkey) was in Armenia. It was a
strategic location to station troops to meet threats from North and East.
Too
Incredible to Be True?
Are we really supposed to believe that forty men in
the prime of life voluntarily undressed to die by freezing? Is this just a
legend?
Actually, the story is as solid as ancient history
gets. There are at least three sources for it. The men were martyred in 320.
Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-396) tells that he was still a boy when a feast was
established in their memory and churches dedicated to them. He wrote two
sermons on them and declared his intention to bury his parents beside the
remains of some of the brave soldiers.
When Gregory's brother, Basil the Great, Bishop of
Caesarea (c.330-379), preached a sermon on the feast day of the Forty Martyrs,
there were still men and women alive who remembered the brave fellows. Basil's
sermon, by the way, is the oldest written record we have of their icy death,
and was preached in a church named for the Forty Martyrs.
Another person who later wrote about the martyrs was
actually alive as a fourteen-year-old boy when they spent their night on the
ice. Ephraim the Syrian (c.306-373) became a leading Christian scholar and hymn
writer. He spent much of his life in Edessa, about two hundred miles south of
Sevaste. Among his many poems was a eulogy on The Forty.
That Day
the North Wind Did Blow
The day was very cold. Surely I do not have to inform
you about the cold since today's weather gives you a clear idea about it. The
chill even penetrates the walls... such was the season of the contest and the
time of their miracles when the north wind blew so vehemently. – Gregory of Nyssa's 1st Sermon on the Forty
Martyrs
Did
Licinius Kill for Spite?
It is commonly and inaccurately stated that
Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire when he
became emperor. Not so. It was Theodosios I over a half-century later with his
edict of 380. Constantine actually came to power with a co-emperor Licinius.
In 313, Licinius needed Constantine's help and struck
a deal with him. To seal the bargain, Constantine married his sister to
Licinius. The two generals issued the edict of Milan, granting religious
toleration to the empire. Licinius even fought under a Christian banner.
So what changed? Why did Licinius turn on the
Christians in 320? Both wanted the same thing --single control over the empire.
Persecuting Christians was one way for Licinius to show how much he hated
Constantine, whose favor for the Christian faith was well known.
Out of
Place Christians?
What were Christians doing in the army? Early
Christian writers tell us that Christians believed it was wrong to fight and
kill. Could it be that The Forty were draftees? Or had Christians decided it
was okay to fight as long as they did so under a Christian banner? Perhaps the
men converted to Christ after enrolling in the armed forces.
Source: https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/40-martyrs-of-sevaste-11629648.html
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