Angius of Sebaste

Holy Martyr Angius of Sebaste is one of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, Christian soldiers from Cappadocia who died in the frozen lake near Sebaste, in Armenia, about the year 320. They are commemorated on 22 March (new style).

In 313 Emperor Constantine the Great signed the law of freedom of faith. His co-⁠emperor, Licinius, signed it too, but in his own lands the persecution of Christians continued. About 320, in the city of Sebaste, in Armenia, a Roman army was stationed, in which there were forty Christian soldiers, natives of Cappadocia. The commander Agricolaus forced them to sacrifice to the idols, but the soldiers refused. Then they were arrested and led bound to the lake near the city. It was winter and evening was coming on. The soldiers were set naked in the ice-⁠covered lake. The terrible frost gripped their limbs and they began to freeze. The torment was the heavier because on the shore, as a temptation, a warm bath had been prepared: whoever wished to save his life had to tell the prison guard that he had renounced Christ, and then he could enter the bath and warm himself. All night the soldiers bravely endured the frost, encouraging one another and singing holy hymns to God.

Early in the morning one of them could bear it no longer. He came out of the lake and ran to the bath, but as soon as the warm air touched his body he fell dead. Shortly afterwards the prison guard, Aglaius, saw above the martyrs who remained in the lake an unearthly light. Aglaius was so amazed at the wonder that, confessing himself a Christian, he took off his clothes and joined the thirty-⁠nine. The tormentors, coming a little later, saw that the Christian soldiers had not only not frozen but seemed even warmed. Then they broke their shins with hammers and threw them into the fire, and the burned bones were thrown into the river. After three days the martyrs appeared to Bishop Peter of Sebaste and told him of their struggle. Bishop Peter gathered their bones and buried them with honour. The youngest of the soldiers, Melito, was still breathing when the bodies were laid on the carts; his mother lifted him and carried him on her back behind the cart, and when he gave up his spirit she laid him beside the others. The names of the martyrs have been preserved: Kyrion, Candidus, Domnus, Hesychius, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Eunoicus, Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Eutychius, John, Xanthias, Helian, Sisinnius, Angius, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecdicius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Gorgonius, Theophilus, Domitian, Gaius, Leontius, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valerius, Philoctemon, Severian, Chudion, Melito and Aglaius.