Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

In 320 forty Christian soldiers of the Roman army at Sebaste refused to sacrifice to the gods. They were stripped and left on a frozen lake overnight, with a warm bath on the shore for anyone who gave in. One soldier did and died as he entered the water, and a guard named Aglaius, seeing crowns descending on the martyrs, threw off his clothes and joined them. Their feast falls in Lent, and Greeks bake forty lenten cakes for it.

• Feast: March 9 (New Calendar)
• Lived: died 320
• Place: Sebaste, Armenia