THE HOLY FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTEIA (ΟΙ ΑΓΙΟΙ ΣΑΡΑΝΤΑ ΜΑΡΤΥΡΕΣ)

THE HOLY FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTEIA (ΟΙ ΑΓΙΟΙ ΣΑΡΑΝΤΑ ΜΑΡΤΥΡΕΣ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΕΙΑΣ) is a 1988 Greek film/video produced by ELPIS FILM as part of a Orthodox Christian series on the lives of the Saints.

PLOT:
In the year 313 Saint Constantine the Great issued an edict granting Christians religious freedom, and officially recognizing Christianity as equal with paganism under the law. But his co-ruler Licinius was a pagan, and he decided to stamp out Christianity in his part of the Empire. As Licinius prepared his army to fight Constantine, he decided to remove Christians from his army, fearing mutiny. The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste were a group of Roman soldiers in the Legio XII Fulminata (Armed with Lightning) whose martyrdom in the year 320 AD for the Christian faith is recounted in traditional martyrologies. They had openly professed themselves to be Christians and were condemned by the prefect to be exposed naked upon a frozen pond near Sebaste on a bitterly cold night, that they might freeze to death. Among the confessors, one yielded and, leaving his companions, sought the warm baths near the lake which had been prepared for any who might prove inconstant. Upon immersion into the cauldron, the one who yielded went into shock and immediately died. One of the guards, Aglaius, was set to keep watch over the martyrs and beheld at this moment a supernatural brilliancy overshadowing them. He at once proclaimed himself a Christian, threw off his garments, and joined the remaining thirty-nine. Thus the number of forty remained complete. At daybreak, the stiffened bodies of the confessors, which still showed signs of life, were burned and the ashes cast into a river. Christians, however, collected the precious remains, and the relics were distributed throughout many cities. Veneration of the Forty Martyrs became widespread.

CAST:
Kostas Paspalis
G. Livanos
Jenny Stefanakou
Nelly Pappa
Kostas Drakos
Stelios Fouflias
Lakis Hondrokostas
Giannis Mainos
Giannis Nikolopoulos
Grigoris Orfanoudakis
Giannis Palios
Themis Psyhogios
Panos Stathakopoulos
Giorgos Tasiopoulos
Dimitris Theodorou
Vagelis Traiforos
G. Voutas