A Christian mother who taught the faith to her sons despite her pagan-priest husband, and suffered martyrdom with them under Maximian Galerius.
The Holy Martyr Bassa of Edessa and her Sons Theognis, Agapius and Pistus
Bassa was a Christian mother of the city of Edessa in Macedonia who, together with her three sons, suffered martyrdom during the persecutions of the early fourth century. Raised in the Christian faith from childhood, she passed it on to her sons even though she was married to a pagan priest.
The synaxarion relates that her husband denounced his own wife and children to the authorities during the reign of the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311). When the sons refused to offer sacrifice to idols, they were tortured and put to death, after which Bassa herself endured a long sequence of torments before being beheaded.
Her commemoration is kept on August 21, and her sons Theognis, Agapius and Pistus are remembered together with her as a single martyred household.
Your holy martyr Bassa and her sons, O Lord,
through their sufferings have received incorruptible crowns from You, our God.
For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through their intercessions, save our souls
Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).
Bassa lived in Macedonian Edessa and was married to a pagan priest. Having been raised in the Christian faith from childhood, she taught that faith to her three sons, Theognis, Agapius and Pistus, within a household otherwise devoted to idolatry.
When the persecution under the emperor Maximian Galerius broke out, it was Bassa's own husband who betrayed his family, denouncing his wife and children to the civil authorities for their refusal to sacrifice to the idols.
In spite of threats, the three boys refused to offer sacrifice to the idols, and each was tortured and put to death in turn. The eldest, Theognis, was raked with iron claws and then beheaded.
The young Agapius had the skin flayed from his head to his chest, yet the accounts record that he did not utter a sound under the torture. The youngest, Pistus, was tortured and beheaded just as his brothers had been.
Bassa herself was thrown into prison and starved, but the synaxarion relates that an angel strengthened her with heavenly food. She was then subjected to various tortures and is said to have remained unharmed by fire, water and wild beasts.
When she was brought to a pagan temple, she shattered the statue of Zeus. According to the tradition, after she was cast into the sea a ship sailed up and three radiant men drew her out of the water.
She came at last to the island of Alona, near Cyzicus in the Propontis (the Sea of Marmora), where she was beaten with rods and beheaded.
Bassa came to be venerated widely in the region around the Sea of Marmora and Constantinople. By the year 450 a church had already been dedicated in honor of the holy martyr Bassa at Chalcedon, a testimony to the early spread of her commemoration.
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