The Cave of the Seven Sleepers, near Ephesus in modern-day Turkey. St Gregory of Tours (538–594) brought the tale home from the East, and when St Willibald (?700-786), who had gone to Rome on a pilgrimage in 721, decided three years later to go on to the Holy Land, he took care to call in at Ephesus. ‘Thence’ recorded his sister St Walburge ‘they went on foot to the place where the seven sleepers repose.’
Part 1 of 2
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.
Part Two
One of the icons on display during the ‘100 Icons’ event at the Donetsk Regional Art Museum in 2012 was this painting of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus (lower part). The Seven Sleepers often share space with other saints in Russian iconography, including the Virgin Mary. The tale was eagerly coopted by Islam and is perhaps best known today in the form of a non-religious fable, The Tale of Rip van Winkle; but the original story was told to show that the Christian doctrine of the resurrection is not limited to a belief in the immortality of the soul, but includes the human body too.
THE years passed quickly. Soon Decius was no more; grass grew, and sheep grazed on the hill. Then one day a shepherd, looking for shelter, began moving the stones at the entrance to the cave. As he laboured, he heard the singing of psalms from within. Louder and louder it grew, until seven young men scrambled out.
Thinking that only one night had gone by, Maximian sent Malchus into Ephesus for bread. But the streets were strange to him; there was even a Christian cross over the city gate. Malchus’s demand to see Emperor Decius drew only doubtful stares; and when he tried to buy bread, he was arrested for trying to pass currency not used for two centuries.
There was a fine rumpus, but when the bishop read Malchus’s diary he was convinced, and wrote excitedly to Emperor Theodosius declaring a miracle.* Malchus, meanwhile, rejoined Maximian and the others at the cave. There the seven sleepers of Ephesus lived out their days singing psalms, offering a sacrifice of praise for the stability of the Empire.*
Emperor Theodosius II came to the throne in 402 as an infant, and ruled under a regent until 416. He died in 450, and his sister Pulcheria took over as Empress. Elfric calls the bishop Marinus, but Gregory of Tours does not name him; if these events took place in the days of Emperor Theodosius, then of the bishops we know the candidates include Heraclides (fl. 403), Memnon (fl. 440), Bassianus (444-448) and Stephen (448-451). Bassianus was popular but irregularly consecrated; Stephen, who managed to oust him, was unpopular and his doctrine of Christ failed the test of the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Their rivalry was resolved when they were both forced to retire.
St Gregory of Tours (538-594) indicates that the Seven died again almost immediately, but Elfric (?955-?1022) tells how the Emperor came to see them, and found them with shining faces (like Moses after his meetings with God). They assured him that ‘we will be for thee [here] within oftentimes praying God for this, that He will preserve thee in holy fulness of faith, and in the strength of thy belief, and thy kingdom in peace.’
