Flavius of Sebaste

Holy Martyr Flavius of Sebaste is one of the forty martyrs who died for Christ in Sebaste of Armenia, around the year 320. The page says nothing of him in particular, but tells the passion of them all.

The forty, Christian soldiers from Cappadocia, refused to sacrifice to the idols in the persecution begun by Licinius. The commander Agricolaus tried them with praise and with chains, the official Lysias judged them, and they answered that nothing was dearer to them than Christ. On a frosty winter night they were left naked all night on a frozen lake, while on the shore a warm bath had been prepared for whoever should renounce. One came out and fell dead in the bath; a guard, Aglaius, who saw a crown of light above each martyr, declared himself a Christian and took the place of the fallen one. In the morning the martyrs were found alive, the bones of their legs were broken and their bodies burned. The mother of the youngest, Meliton, carried him on her shoulders after the wagon to the end. Bishop Peter of Sebaste gathered the bones, after the martyrs appeared to him in a dream, and buried them with honour.

The name of Flavius is in the list of the forty, beside Kyrion, Candidus, Domnus, Hesychius, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Eunoicus, Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Eutychius, John, Xanthias, Helianus, Sisinnius, Angius, Aetius, Acacius, Ecdicius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Gorgonius, Theophilus, Domitian, Gaius, Leontius, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valerius, Philoctemon, Severian, Hudion, Meliton and Aglaius. The saints are commemorated on 9 March in the old style, which is 22 March in the new.