On October 7, we celebrate the memory of the holy martyrs Sergius and Bacchus.
Sergius and Bacchus lived in the second half of the 3rd century. They were highly educated and served under Maximian, Diocletian’s co-emperor and one of the most prominent persecutors of early Christianity. Thousands of Christians were tortured and killed on his orders.
The emperor applied all the means which, in his opinion, could destroy the belief in the true God in the souls of Christians. In 303 he began a new persecution, and when he learned that Sergius and Bacchus were Christians, at first he did not want to believe. He thought that envious people with slander wanted to remove his trusted employees. However, he soon became convinced that he was being told the truth. And although he valued Sergius and Bacchus for their wisdom and counsel, as well as for their bravery in battle, he immediately tried to persuade them to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. But the two military leaders themselves began to exhort the emperor to turn to the true God. Flaming with anger, Maximian would listen no more. And when he saw that Sergius and Bacchus resolutely refused to submit, the emperor did not hesitate to deprive them of their posts and deliver them up to torture.
The two worthy Christians were tortured in many ways. After a severe flogging, Bacchus was the first to die. Sergius was offered to save himself from a painful death by denying Christ, but he answered with the words of the holy apostle Paul: “To me life is Christ, and death is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Because of this firmness in his faith, he was beheaded. This happened in 303.
In 547, Emperor Justinian the Great built a large church in Constantinople in honor of the martyrs Sergius and Bacchus (the so-called Little Holy Sophia), where their holy relics were laid. Later crusaders seized them and now parts of them are kept in various cities in Europe.
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