Eutychius of Sebaste

Holy Martyr Eutychius of Sebaste is one of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in Armenia, Christian soldiers from Cappadocia who suffered around the year 320.

In 313 the Emperor Constantine the Great issued the law of freedom of faith, which his co-⁠emperor Licinius also signed, but in the latter's lands persecution continued. Around 320 a Roman army was stationed in the city of Sebaste in Armenia, with forty Christian soldiers among them. The commander Agricolaus wished to make them sacrifice to idols, and they refused. They were arrested, led bound to a lake near the city and stood naked on the ice on a winter evening. On the shore, as a temptation, a warm bath had been prepared for whoever would renounce Christ. All night they bore the frost, encouraging one another and singing hymns. In the morning one of them could bear it no longer and ran for the bath, but fell dead as the warm air touched him. The guard Aglaius saw a heavenly light above the others, declared himself a Christian, undressed and joined the thirty-⁠nine. The persecutors broke their shins with hammers, threw them into the fire, and cast the burned bones into the river.

After three days the martyrs appeared to Peter, bishop of Sebaste, who gathered their bones and buried them with honour. Their names have been preserved, and Eutychius is among them. The Forty are commemorated on one of the most honoured days, when the Great Fast is relaxed and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served. Eutychius is commemorated on 22 March (new style), that is 9 March by the old calendar.