Ilian of Sebaste

Holy Martyr Ilian of Sebaste is one of the forty martyrs of Sebaste in Armenia, Christian soldiers from Cappadocia who suffered for Christ around the year 320. The Azbyka page honours them all together and says nothing particular about him.

In 313 the emperor Constantine the Great issued the law of freedom of faith, and his co-⁠emperor Licinius signed it as well. In the lands that Licinius ruled, however, the persecution of Christians went on. Around 320 a Roman army was stationed at Sebaste, and forty Christians from Cappadocia served in it. The commander Agricolaus tried to force them to sacrifice to idols, but they refused, and he shut them up.

In winter, in bitter frost, the soldiers were stripped, bound and led to a frozen lake near the city, where they were left to stand all night. A warm bath had been prepared on the shore to tempt them: whoever wished to save his life had only to say that he had renounced Christ. The saints endured the cold singing hymns to God and encouraging one another. In the morning one of them could bear it no longer, came out of the water and ran to the bath, but he fell dead as soon as the warm air touched him.

Then the jailer Aglaius saw an unearthly light shining above the martyrs. Amazed, he declared himself a Christian, threw off his clothes and joined the thirty-⁠nine, so that the number forty was complete. Those who came afterwards found the martyrs not only alive but seemingly warmed. They broke their shins with hammers and threw them into the fire, and the half-⁠burned bones they cast into the river.

After three days the martyrs appeared to Bishop Peter of Sebaste and told him of their struggle. The bishop gathered the bones and buried them with honour. The names of the forty have been preserved: Kyrion, Candidus, Domnus, Hesychius, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Eunoicus, Valens, Vibianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Eutychius, John, Xanthias, Ilian, Sisinius, Angius, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecdicius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Gorgonius, Theophilus, Domitian, Gaius, Leontius, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valerius, Philoctemon, Severian, Chudion, Melito and Aglaius.

The commemoration of the forty martyrs is among the best loved in the Church. It falls on 9 March in the old style, which is 22 March in the new style, and on that day the rule of the Great Fast is eased and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served.