These were forty soldiers who, under the Emperor Licinius, in Armenia, were all frozen to death on an icy lake because they would not apostatize from the Catholic Faith. One of the forty did give in, but his place was taken by one of the guards. The youngest and last of these forty soldiers to die was named Melitho. His mother, who was standing by, took him in her arms and carried him to the place where the other martyrs were being burned. He died in her arms. She then laid him with the other martyrs, to be thrown into the fire.
The Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste
