Dometian of Sebaste

Holy Martyr Dometian of Sebaste is one of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, Christian soldiers from Cappadocia who froze for Christ on the lake near the city around the year 320. Their names, preserved by tradition, are Cyrion, Candidus, Domnus, Hesychius, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Eunoicus, Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Eutychius, John, Xanthias, Helianus, Sisinius, Angias, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecdicius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Gorgonius, Theophilus, Dometian, Gaius, Leontius, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valerius, Philoctimon, Severian, Chudion, Meliton and Aglaius.

In the year 313 the Emperor Constantine the Great issued the law of freedom of faith, which the Emperor Licinius, the ruler of another part of the empire, also signed. But in his lands the persecution of Christians continued. Licinius, preparing for war with Constantine, wished to purge his army of Christians. In Sebaste in Armenia the commander Agricolaus tried to force to sacrifice to idols the forty Christian soldiers from Cappadocia, brave men who had come out victorious from many battles, but they refused.

They were arrested and led bound to the lake near the city. It was winter and evening was falling. The soldiers were set naked on the ice. The terrible cold gripped their limbs and they began to freeze. The torment was the harder because on the shore a warm bath had been prepared as a temptation: whoever wished to save his life had to tell the guard that he had denied Christ, and could go in to warm himself.

All night the soldiers endured the frost with courage, encouraging one another and singing hymns to God. Standing in the water, they heard a voice from heaven strengthening them. Toward morning one of them could bear it no longer, came out and ran to the bath, but when the warm air touched his body he fell dead.

The guard Aglaius saw a heavenly light flash over the martyrs who remained in the lake and, seized with wonder, threw off his clothes, declared himself a Christian and joined the thirty-⁠nine. The tormentors, coming later, saw that the soldiers had not only not frozen but seemed to have grown warm. Then they broke their shins with hammers and cast them into the fire, and threw the burnt bones into the river.

The mother of the youngest, Meliton, urged him to endure to the end and, seeing that he still breathed, took him up and carried him after the cart; when he gave up his spirit, she laid him on the cart beside the bodies of the other martyrs.

After three days the martyrs appeared to Bishop Peter of Sebaste and revealed their struggle. The bishop gathered their bones and buried them with honour. The commemoration of the Forty Martyrs is among the most honoured feasts: on their day, 9 March, the strictness of Great Lent is relaxed and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated.