Elias of Sebaste

Holy Martyr Elias of Sebaste is counted among the forty martyrs of Sebaste in Armenia, Christian soldiers from Cappadocia who died for Christ around 320. The Azbyka page gives nothing particular about him, but tells the passion of all of them.

At the time when Constantine the Great had granted freedom to the Christian faith, the persecution went on in the east under Licinius. The commander Agricolaus, a zealous pagan, demanded that the forty soldiers sacrifice to the gods. They refused. They were tried before the governor Lysias, and when they were condemned to be stoned, the stones missed their mark, and the one thrown by Lysias struck Agricolaus in the face. A voice from heaven encouraged the soldiers in prison and promised them incorruptible crowns.

Then they were stripped and made to stand all night on a frozen lake, while on the shore a warm bath stood heated for anyone who would renounce the faith. One alone weakened and fell dead on the threshold of the bath. Around midnight the ice melted, the water grew warm and light filled the lake. The guard Aglaius saw the crowns above the martyrs, counted thirty-⁠nine and understood that one had lost his crown. He stripped, declared himself a Christian and took the place of the one who had fallen.

At dawn the city's authorities broke the martyrs' shins. The youngest, Melito, was still breathing, and his mother carried him on her shoulders behind the cart until he gave up his soul. The bodies were burned and the bones thrown into the water. After three days the martyrs appeared in a dream to Bishop Peter and ordered that their remains be buried, which he did by night with a few clergy.

The commemoration of the holy forty martyrs, among whom Elias is named, is kept on 9 March in the old style, which is 22 March in the new style. On that day the fast is relaxed a little and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served.