07/25/2024 Italy (International Christian Concern) – Looking back to the year 313, pagan Roman emperor Licinius was determined to rid his army of Christianity as he feared an uprising. This posture stood directly in opposition to an edict from Saint Constantine the Great which provided Christians with religious freedom under the law.
One of Licinius’s military commanders who ruled with an iron fist was a man named Agricola. Under his command was a group of 40 Christian soldiers who refused to submit to his commands to sacrifice to pagan gods. Due to their refusal, Agricola put the 40 men in prison, but they held fast to their faith and kept themselves busy behind bars with prayer and singing.
Despite mounting pressure, the group of believers refused to give up their faith.
Eventually, on a particularly cold winter night, the guards took the 40 soldiers to a lake and threw them into the frosty water. Hoping to break their will and entice the men to deny their faith, the guards built a warm bathhouse along the shore. Of the 40, only one man chose to abandon the lake. However, as soon as he stepped into the bathhouse, he dropped dead.
A few hours into the night, as one of the guards was keeping watch, he saw a radiant crown above the head of each of the remaining 39 men in the lake. Knowing that he was witnessing the miraculous, the guard shed his uniform and joined the soldiers in the lake, proclaiming, “I, too, am a Christian.” His bold act of faith before his fellow guards, knowing it would surely lead to his death, brought the group back to 40 faithful believers.
By dawn, the group had miraculously survived the night. Ushering them into the afterlife, the guards brought the men from the lake, broke their legs, and threw them into a fire.
Among the witnesses of the gruesome execution was the mother of the youngest soldier. Knowing that the glory of eternity soon awaited him, she pleaded with her son to persevere to the end. Indeed, he and the other 39 did just that.
For their faithfulness, these courageous believers are still honored today for this decision. Though the pain of martyrdom was great, it paled in comparison with the glory that awaited them when they heard the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
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