Constantine of Ephesus

Saint Constantine of Ephesus, also called Exacustodianus, is one of the Seven Youths of Ephesus, Maximilian, Iamblichus, Martinian, John, Dionysius, Exacustodianus and Antoninus, who lived in the third century. Maximilian was the son of the city governor, and the other six were sons of other notable citizens of Ephesus. Friends from childhood, all were soldiers.

When the Emperor Decius (249-251) came to Ephesus, he commanded all citizens to sacrifice to the pagan gods, and those who disobeyed faced torture and death. Denounced by those who sought the emperor's favour, the seven youths were called to trial and confessed their faith in Christ. Their military insignia, their belts, were taken from them at once. Decius nevertheless let them go free, hoping that they would change their minds while he was on campaign.

The youths left the city and hid in a cave on Mount Ochlon, where they prayed, preparing for martyrdom. The youngest, Iamblichus, dressed in beggar's rags, went into the city to buy bread. On one of these trips he heard that the emperor had returned and that they were being sought. Maximilian encouraged his friends to come out of the cave and appear willingly for trial. Learning where they hid, the emperor ordered the entrance of the cave to be walled up with stones, so that the youths would die of hunger and thirst.

But the Lord sent a wondrous sleep on the youths, which lasted almost two centuries. By then the persecution had ceased, but in the time of the pious Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450) heretics appeared who denied the resurrection of the dead. Then the Lord revealed, through the seven youths, the mystery of the resurrection of the dead and of the life to come. The owner of the land on which Mount Ochlon stood began a stone building, and the workmen opened the entrance of the cave.

The Lord raised the youths, and they awoke as from an ordinary sleep, not suspecting that almost two hundred years had passed. Their bodies and clothes were wholly untouched by decay. Preparing for torments, they asked Iamblichus to buy bread once more in the city. Approaching the city, the young man was astonished to see the holy cross on the gate and to hear the Name of Jesus Christ spoken freely.

Paying for the bread, he gave the merchant a coin with the image of the Emperor Decius and was detained as one who had hidden a treasure of ancient coins. He was brought to the city governor, with whom the bishop of Ephesus was then present. Hearing the young man's bewildered answers, the bishop understood that God was revealing a mystery through him and went with the people to the cave.

At the entrance he took from the pile of stones a sealed casket, in which he read on tin tablets the names of the seven youths and the circumstances of the walling up of the cave by order of Decius. Entering the cave and seeing the youths alive, all rejoiced and understood that the Lord, by awakening them from long sleep, was revealing to the Church the mystery of the resurrection of the dead.

Soon the emperor himself came to Ephesus and spoke with the youths in the cave. Then, before the eyes of all, the holy youths bowed their heads to the ground and fell asleep again, this time until the general resurrection.

The seven youths are commemorated on 4 August and 22 October, old style, that is 17 August and 4 November in the new style. They are also remembered in the service of the Church New Year, on 1 September.