Ammon the Deacon and the Forty Virgins

The Holy Martyrs Ammon the Deacon and the Forty Virgins lived in the time of the emperor Licinius, coruler with Saint Constantine the Great, around the year 305, at Adrianople in Thrace. The ruler of the region, Babdos, arrested them as Christians and urged them to worship idols. A prominent woman, Kelsina, after boldly confessing her faith, gathered them all in her house with their teacher, the deacon Ammon, to strengthen them for martyrdom. Ammon took a paper with their names and read them out one by one: "Strive for Christ through martyrdom, for in this way the Master Christ at the gate of the heavenly Kingdom will call you by name, one by one, to bestow upon you a crown of eternal life."

When the ruler questioned them again, all steadfastly confessed their faith. They prayed to God and shattered the idols; suddenly the pagan priest was lifted into the air by an invisible force and, after being tormented long, fell dead. Babdos ordered Ammon hung up, his sides raked and his wounds burned with lit candles, and a red-⁠hot bronze helmet was placed on his head, but the martyr remained unharmed. Unhurt by his ordeal, he was led with his disciples from Veroe (modern Stara Zagora, Bulgaria) to Heraclea, before Licinius. On the way the Lord encouraged them. Arriving, they went to the place where the relics of the Holy Martyr Glykeria lay and spent the night in prayer; the saint appeared and said: "Welcome, holy servants of God. I have long awaited your glorious companions in Christ, so that we might dance crowned with the holy angels in Christ's Kingdom, Whom we have confessed unto blood."

At Heraclea they were thrown to the wild beasts, but the animals fell asleep and did not touch them. While the soldiers lit the fire in which they were to be thrown, they predicted to Licinius the victory of Saint Constantine the Great, the triumph of Christianity and the end of idolatry. Then they sealed themselves with the sign of the Cross. Ten leaped into the flames, rejoicing and praising God, who bedewed the fire; eight were beheaded with the sword together with their teacher Ammon; ten were executed by a sword in the heart or by red-⁠hot irons put into their mouths; six more were slain, and the remaining six departed to the Lord in peace. They are commemorated on 1 September (new style).