The Church commemorates Martyr Sebastiani and Great-martyr Arethas, who lived and died in Ethiopia during the 6th century.
The Church also commemorates many other martyrs of all ages, who did not renounce Christ and were slaughtered by idolaters. An illustrative example is a very moving case of a mother, unknown to us but known to God, whose infant was thrown into the fire by her persecutors.
The heroic mother, to avoid being caught and disgraced by the pagans, decided to throw herself into the fire. She and her infant became martyrs.
This mother’s affection and love is an example to follow in every age and especially in ours, in which, living the martyrdom of conscience, even this motherhood is attacked, despised, and tends to be replaced by new practices, which our society tolerates, adopts, or even promotes.
Today, more than ever, we need mothers who, with genuine faith and affection, willingly dedicate themselves to fervent prayer, to save their families from the fire of various decay. Mothers who testify of Christ with words of love, humility, and forgiveness.
Source: Church of Cyprus
