Sts Sergius and Bacchus

Martyrs (A.D. -303)

Saint of the day October 8

Sergius and Bacchus were said to have been officers of the Roman army on the Syrian frontier; Sergius being described as commandant of the recruits’ school and Bacchus as his subaltern. They were personal favourites of the Emperor Maximian, until one day when he went into the temple of Jupiter to offer sacrifice he noticed that they did not enter with him. Ordered to take part in the sacrifice, both of them refused and professed their faith in Christ, much to the dismay of the Emperor. They were soon stripped of their arms and ranks and instead paraded through the streets, dressed in women’s clothing. But none of these humiliations and threats could change their hearts.

They were then dispatched to Risafe in Mesopotamia, where the governor had them scourged so severely that St Bacchus died under the lash. His body was thrown out on the highway, where vultures protected it from being attacked by dogs an incident recorded about several other martyrs. St Sergius was made to walk a long distance wearing shoes with nails thrust through into his feet, and was then beheaded.

In 431, Alexander, Metropolitan of Hierapolis, restored and blessed the church over the grave of St Sergius, whose walls in the middle of the sixth century were plated with silver. The church at Risafe was one of the most famous in the East, and Sergius and Bacchus became the heavenly protectors of the Byzantine army, with the two Theodores, Demetrius, Procopius and George.