Firminus of Apsarus

Holy Martyr Firminus of Apsarus was one of seven brothers, martyrs and Roman soldiers: Orentius, Pharnacius, Eros, Firmus, Firminus, Kyriacus and Longinus. They suffered in the time of the emperor Maximian (284-305).

At that time the Scythians attacked the Greeks. For a duel with the Scythian chief Marof, of unusual bodily strength, Saint Orentius, also a strong and brave soldier, was ordered to come forward. Orentius was a Christian, like his six brothers, who served in the emperor's army. Calling the Lord to his aid, Orentius overcame Marof and so halted the invasion of the Scythians. The emperor wished to offer a sacrifice to the pagan gods for the victory and invited the victor too to the sacrifice. The saint refused, declared himself a Christian and said that he had overcome the enemy by the power of the true God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Neither promises of honours and riches nor threats could make him renounce Christ. The emperor, cruel and ungrateful, ordered the saint and his six brothers exiled to the Caucasus.

On the way all seven brothers died. First to die was Eros, on 22 June, at Paremvola. After him died Orentius, thrown into the sea with a stone tied round his neck, whom the Archangel Raphael carried to the shore at Rhizus, on the south coast of the Black Sea, where the martyr died. Pharnacius died on 3 July at Cordyle. Firmus and Firminus died on 7 July at Apsarus, on the east coast of the Black Sea, Kyriacus died at Ziganea on 14 July, and Longinus died on the ship on 28 July; the storm cast the ship ashore at Pitinda, today Pitsunda, where the martyr's body was buried.

About Firminus in particular nothing separate is said. The saints are commemorated on 7 July.