WRITTEN BY: Catechist Branislav Ilić, Editor of the Kinonia Portal
Holy martyrs, like radiant stars, shine in the firmament of the Church through their unshakable steadfastness in the struggles of faith. In this spirit, the ever-memorable Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radović), in one of his homilies, said: “Wherever a grain of wheat falls into the earth, there springs up an ear of wheat that bears rich fruit for our nourishment and delight. Wherever a drop of martyr’s blood falls, there God descends, and from that martyr’s blood there springs forth faith, a pure soul, and a holy temple. Thus it has been from time immemorial, thus it is today, and thus it shall be until the end of the world and the ages.” Encouraging and edifying us, the Holy Church, through the sacred services and commemorations of the martyrs, calls us to follow the example of the holy martyrs and to persevere on the path of virtue and spiritual struggle.
The forty glorious martyrs who suffered in Sebaste had distinct bodies, yet they shared one soul united in harmony and unwavering faith. As the Psalmist David proclaims: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Ps. 132:1). They offered the world an example of steadfastness and patience, and having overcome all trials and torments, they were deemed worthy of equal crowns of glory for their common sacrifice.
In the fourth century, the impious ruler of the Armenian city of Sebaste initiated a cruel persecution of Christians, compelling them to offer sacrifice to idols. Those who refused were subjected to various tortures—fire, the sword, crucifixion, burial alive, breaking on the wheel, scourging, cutting with sharp iron, burning with fire, and other torments. Under the threat of such sufferings, some fled to deserted places, others wavered, and still others, overwhelmed by the horror of brutal torture, surrendered to their tormentors and offered sacrifices to idols.
At that time, in the city of Sebaste, among the ranks of the military regiments, there were forty soldiers, a particularly honourable company of pious men who believed in Christ. In their military duties, they distinguished themselves by strength and courage. When they were compelled to offer sacrifice to idols, these invincible and steadfast warriors of Christ boldly and fearlessly declared themselves to be Christians. Each one stood before the wicked ruler and proclaimed: “I am a Christian!”—thus replacing his own name with the common Name of the Saviour.
The ruler attempted to bribe the soldiers with flattery, saying: “Do not waste your youth; do not exchange this sweet life for an untimely death.” He promised them money, rank, and royal honours. But the firm confessors refused to yield to such deceitful flattery, saying: “We abhor a gift that brings harm to the soul; we do not accept an honour that is the mother of shame. We desire only one gift—the crown of righteousness; we strive for one glory—the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Hearing these words, the proud and cruel governor ordered that the confessors be imprisoned, where, in their night prayer, they heard the comforting voice of the Lord: “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25), and “he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22). On the following day, the martyrs were condemned to be stoned, yet the stones cast at them either missed or struck the tormentors themselves. Witnessing this miracle, the martyrs became even more resolute in their faith in the Lord and said: “Do with us whatever you will; we are Christians and we do not consent to worship idols.” Then the tormentor, filled with rage, ordered that the holy warriors be bound and led to the lake. It was winter, the cold was severe, and a piercing wind was blowing.
Saint Basil the Great, in his homily on the commemoration of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, describes the torments of the cold in the following manner: “Without doubt, those of you who have experienced the cold of winter know how unbearable this kind of suffering is. A body exposed to cold is first entirely suffused with congealed blood; then it trembles and shivers, while the teeth chatter, the veins contract, and the whole body involuntarily convulses. Intense pain and indescribable torment produce in those who are freezing an unbearable sensation of cold.”
Thus, the holy warriors were set naked under guard upon the ice in the middle of the lake throughout the entire night. As Saint Basil the Great writes: “Each one joyfully removed his last tunic, and all rushed towards the death threatened by the cold, encouraging one another: ‘We are not removing our garments,’ they said, ‘but putting off the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts’ (Eph. 4:22). The winter is harsh, but Paradise is sweet. Let us endure for a short time, and the bosom of the Saviour will warm us. In a single night, we shall exchange it for an entire age.’”
In order to deceive the holy martyrs and weaken their resolve, a heated bath was prepared on the shore of the lake. In the middle of the night, when the cold reached its greatest intensity, one of the forty could no longer endure the torment and ran towards the bath. Yet as soon as he crossed the threshold and felt the warmth, he fell down dead. At that moment, one of the guards watching over the martyrs, named Aglaius, beheld an extraordinary vision: crowns descended from heaven upon the heads of each of the thirty-nine ascetics, a great gift of honour from the heavenly King. The fortieth crown began to ascend back towards heaven. Then the soldier Aglaius understood that the man who had fled to the bath had lost his crown, losing his place among the saints. Realizing the wondrous manifestation of God’s love and the sign from heaven, Aglaius immediately cast off his garments and ran into the lake, crying out: “I also am a Christian!” Thus he completed the number of the holy forty martyrs and became a participant among them. Just as the labourer in the Gospel parable of the vineyard received the same wage as those who had come before him, so also the good ascetic Aglaius received the incorruptible crown of martyrdom, joining those who had already received this inestimable heavenly gift.
On the following morning, the God-fighting tormentor was astonished to see the holy warriors still alive. Filled with rage, he ordered that their legs be broken with hammers, their bodies burned, and their ashes cast into the river. The mother of one of the holy martyrs, seeing that her son, by virtue of his physical strength, had survived such torment and that the tormentors had left him behind in the hope that he might live and change his faith, did not shed tears of cowardice, but said: “Go, my son, on the good path with your companions and fellows. Do not fall behind this company, but appear before the Master later than the others.” And the courageous mother carried her son along behind the cart that bore the bodies of the holy martyrs to be burned. Thus this pious mother, rejecting her natural feminine weakness and inspired by courage, set forth an example that all mothers ought to follow in true love, which endures all things for the sake of attaining eternal life and the immortal soul of her child.
Saint Basil the Great, concluding his encomium to the Forty Martyrs, writes: “O sacred ranks! O holy company! O unshakable host! The earth did not conceal you, but heaven received you; the gates of Paradise were opened to you. Being in the fullness of your years, you regarded this temporal life as nothing, in order to glorify God in your bodies, becoming a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men” (1 Cor. 4:9).”
Alongside the holy, glorious, and victorious Martyrs of Sebaste, the Church also sets before us the example of the Holy Martyrs of Momišići. Two priest-teachers and their forty pupils were burned alive in the year 1688 in the small church of the Holy Great Martyr George, in what is today the Podgorica settlement of Momišići, by the army of Suleiman Pasha of Scutari, as an act of retaliation for several defeats that the Ottoman army had suffered in those months at the hands of the highland tribes, particularly the Kuči. Their relics were gathered and placed beneath the holy altar of the Church of Saint George beneath Gorica. Throughout the period of Ottoman rule, the relics remained in this church until 1936, when, with great honour and in a solemn procession (litia), they were transferred to the restored Church of Saint George in Momišići and placed beneath the holy altar. In 1995, their relics were transferred to a tomb on the right side of the altar within the church. Owing to the pastoral love and fatherly care of the ever-memorable Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije (Radović), the relics were brought forth before the faithful for veneration precisely on the feast of the Holy Martyrs of Sebaste, in the year 2006.
Are we prepared, even in some small measure, to imitate these holy martyrs? Unfortunately, the modern man sacrifices almost nothing in the name of the Lord. We are not ready to endure any hardship, and at times we are even afraid to openly confess our holy faith in the Lord. These holy martyrs gave everything: wealth, honour, youth, prosperity, even their very lives. They offered all upon the altar of their Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ: all earthly interests, gains, and attachments could not outweigh the magnitude of their immense, fervent love for God—a love that appeared as madness to unbelievers. How wondrous is their fiery love, stronger even than life itself.
Martyrdom is a sign of election, a great gift and grace of God. In suffering, they joyfully endured their torments and boldly responded to all the threats of their persecutors: Torture us, devise new torments, for in doing so you only make our crowns greater. “Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their sufferings received from Thee, our God, incorruptible crowns…” sings the Holy Church in the general troparion to the martyrs. We may ask ourselves: who among us would not wish to receive an incorruptible crown? Who would not desire to inherit this ineffable reward? In saving his soul, a man struggles with sin, struggles against the passions, cleanses his sinfulness with tears of repentance, with a heavy heart overcomes bad habits, courageously endures temptations and seductions, and remains faithful to God’s commandments in all circumstances—everything mentioned above constitutes a form of voluntary martyrdom for Christ.
A certain elder of the Holy Mountain had a disciple. In the evening, he would always come to his spiritual father for instruction and a blessing for the night. One day, the elder dozed off, and the disciple, not daring to awaken him, patiently sat waiting for him to arise. Thoughts troubled his soul, urging him to rest, yet he resisted them, not daring to depart without a blessing. And so, seven times during the night the disciple rejected these temptations. Upon awakening, the elder was surprised to find his disciple still awake. He gave him his usual blessing and dismissed him. But in a wondrous vision from above, he suddenly beheld seven beautiful crowns and heard a voice: “Your disciple has earned these seven crowns this night.” The elder awoke in fear and hastened to learn what his disciple had done that night. The disciple denied everything, insisting that he had done nothing. Finally, when the elder persisted, the disciple said: “Forgive me, Father, I know of no good deed in myself, except that seven times a thought urged me to leave without a blessing, and seven times I resisted it.” Then the elder understood why his disciple had been rewarded, yet he said nothing to him, for the sake of humility, but recounted the story to others for the benefit of their souls, that all might know how merciful our Lord is. Instructed by the example of the holy Martyrs of Sebaste and Momišići, we pray to the Lord that we may never be afraid when hearing accounts of suffering. When the fire of love for God burns in a pure heart, when holy devotion to our Saviour dwells in our soul, then no hardships, labours, or torments are terrifying; then all earthly attachments, all vanity and cares of this life appear insignificant, and all struggles become light.
The Lord calls each one of us to follow His path—the narrow and saving path of bearing the cross. He calls, and He grants endurance and strength. “Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown,” the Lord warns (Rev. 3:11). The Saviour knows our weakness, yet Christlike love can raise us above all fears, even above the fear of death, for love does not permit one to die. Having before us the example of the holy Martyrs of Sebaste and the holy Martyrs of Momišići, let us follow the words of the Saviour, who as the Lover of mankind calls us: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”