Eustratius, Auxentius, Eugene, Mardarius and Orestes

Holy Martyrs Eustratius, Auxentius, Eugene, Mardarius and Orestes suffered at Sebaste in Armenia, at the end of the third century or the beginning of the fourth, in the persecution of Diocletian.

The surviving details are few and come from their passion, into which stock features of such accounts have probably crept. According to tradition, Eustratius came from a notable family of the city, and the Orthodox synaxarion calls him an orator and an official, a keeper of state records; Eugene was his servant. Judged as Christians, they were condemned. Mardarius and Auxentius, friends of Eustratius, took his part and were condemned in turn. Orestes was a soldier who became a Christian on seeing the firmness with which the martyrs bore their torments. All five were tortured and put to death. One variant of the tradition says that Eustratius and Orestes survived at first and were burned at the stake later, in the year 296.

Their relics were carried to Rome and laid in the church of Sant'Apollinare. They are venerated in both the Orthodox and the Catholic Church, above all in the East, and their commemoration falls on 13 December. As saints of the early centuries, they are saints of the undivided Church.