Holy Martyrs Terence, Africanus, Maxim, Pompey and the Other Thirty with Them.
They suffered for Christ and were crowned with wreaths of glory at the time of Emperor Decius. By order of the Emperor, the Deputy for Africa made an announcement that everyone was obliged to offer sacrifices to the idols, otherwise all those who refused would be subjected to terrible tortures. Having heard of these threats many abandoned the faith and bowed down before the idols. But these forty martyrs remained unwavering and were therefore subjected to tortures. Saint Terence encouraged his companions with the words: "let us beware brothers of denying our Christ Lord so that He should not deny us before his heavenly Father and the holy angels!" The deputy divided them into two groups:
thirty-six of them, after being whipped and their wounds being scraped and salted, were beheaded with the sword. The first four he threw into prison with heavy chains around the neck and on arms and legs. But an angel of God appeared in the prison, touched the chains of the imprisoned and the chains fell down. Then the angel fed them abundantly. After that they were taken out and subjected to new tortures and then thrown into prison again. Moreover, the deputy had ordered the soothsaying women to collect various venomous creatures, like snakes and scorpions, and to close them in the same cell with the martyrs. But the creatures refused to touch the men of God and crowded in a corner where they stayed for three days. When the prison was opened on the third day, the creatures rushed on the soothsayers and started to bite them. Finally the Deputy senteced the four imprisoned martyrs to death. On the way to execution they chanted psalms and praised the God who made them worthy of martyr's death. They suffered honorably and became worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven in 250 A.D.
Holy Sixty Thousand Martryrs in Georgia.
In the David-Gersja desert in Georgia there were twelve monasteries in which for centuries young monks used to live their ascetic lives. In the year 1615 Shah Avvas I invaded Georgia, devastated the country and beheaded innumerable Christians. Once, while he was hunting in the very dawn of the Easter, he saw many lights in the mountains. Those were young monks from all of the twelve families walking in a procession round the Church of Resurrection of Christ and carrying candles in their hands. When le learned that they were monks, he asked in astonishment: "Hasn't all of Georgia been put to sword?" and ordered the soldiers to go immediately and behead all of the monks. An angel of God appeared at that moment to abbot Arsenius and announced the forthcoming death. Arsenius conveyed this to his brotherhood. Then all of them took Communion and prepared themselves for death. At that the soldiers came and cut to pieces first the abbot, who was the first to face them, and then all the others. They all suffered in dignity and were crowned with unfading wreaths in 1615 A.D. And so ended the history of these famous monasteries which for centuries had served as a hearth of spiritual enlightenment of the Georgians. Today there are only two of them: that of Saint David and that of Saint John the Forerunner. Georgian King Archil collected all the relics of the martyrs and buried them honorably. Healing myrrh is still flowing from these relics and bringing cure to the ill.