The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus
Maximian and his friends refused to take part in a multi-faith day of prayer for unity.
440-450
Roman Empire (Byzantine Era) 330 - 1453
Maximian and his friends refused to take part in a multi-faith day of prayer for unity.
440-450
Roman Empire (Byzantine Era) 330 - 1453
In the days of the Roman Emperor Theodosius (r. 402-450) doubts were again being raised about the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of bodies. Just at that moment, a letter came to the Imperial court in Constantinople from nearby Ephesus, where the Bishop had seen with his own eyes a quite extraordinary tale of life after death.
IN the year 250, Emperor Decius ordered all citizens to offer sacrifice to their ancestral gods, for the stability of the Empire.* Many Christians complied, but others refused, saying that Imperial cohesion would not be helped by sacrificing to devils.*
Among the citizens of Ephesus who defied the order was Maximian.* As he had once served in the Imperial household, Decius gave him and six companions an opportunity for reflection.* ‘Think better of it by my next visit’ he said ‘and you will continue to live well.’ Instead, Maximian and the others gave all their wealth away to families affected by the persecution, and holed up in a cave where they prayed for the misguided Emperor.
When Decius returned, his spies told him that Maximian had in no way repented; so the wounded Emperor ordered his men to pile up stones at the cave’s entrance, depriving them, he said, of sunshine just as they had deprived themselves of his goodwill. It was soon done, and with each stone the sound of their singing died away.
A certificate of sacrifice (libellus, ‘little book’) was given to all who complied with the Imperial edict. Some have survived to this day: see A libellus from the Decian persecution. Those Christians who did get a libellus were allowed back into the Church after repentance.
The Second Commandment absolutely forbids making or even showing respect towards an idol: Exodus 20:3-17. There is no need to seek out confrontation under foreign government: see Exodus 22:28. Food offered to idols and then sold on in the market can be eaten; however, if your host draws attention to it, the meat must be politely refused for your host’s sake: see 1 Corinthians 8. Nonetheless, to pray or make an offering to an idol is to partake of fellowship with devils and bring disaster upon the nation: see 1 Corinthians 10:16-22, Deuteronomy 6:14-15. St John, the first Bishop of Ephesus, pleaded: ‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols; see 1 John 5:21.
Others who defied the order included Pope Fabian in Rome and army general Mercurius, both of whom were executed; Mercurius however was granted his own kind of revenge on pagan Emperors: see The Spear of St Mercurius. Jews were exempted, a convention going back to Julius Caesar (r. 49-44 BC). Judaism was recognised by the State as ancestral, and theirs was a ‘religion’; Christianity was a ‘superstition’: its followers worshipped a Jewish god but were not Jews by ancestry or by synagogue, so the State denounced them as fanatics whose desire to seduce others from their family gods was socially destabilising.
In Chapter 95 of ‘The Glory of the Martyrs’ by St Gregory of Tours (538–594), their names are given as Maximian, Malchus, Martinian, Constantine, Denis, John and Serapion.