Senators of Sebaste

The Senators of Sebaste are a group of martyrs commemorated on 2 November (new style, the Greek calendar). They came from Sebaste and suffered around the year 315, in the time of the governor Auxanius, the duke Marcellus and Marcus Agricolaus; their names were not preserved on earth, but, says the synaxarion, they shine immortal in heaven.

When Licinius, in his war against Constantine the Great, began a heavy persecution against the Christian faith, a group of senators had the courage to tell him openly that his order was a crime against God, who would not delay in sending a punishment that teaches. Licinius called them insolent and ordered them put to death. They accepted the sentence bravely, although they left behind families who were also exposed to danger. They all died together in the fire, encouraging and blessing one another. A verse of the synaxarion says that the senators, longing for the incorruptible prize, gave up their senatorial honours through death.