, 13th century
Early A church was built at
Caesarea, in
Cappadocia, and it was in this church that Basil publicly delivered his homily.
Gregory of Nyssa was especially devoted to the Forty Martyrs; two discourses in praise of them, preached by him in the church dedicated to them, are still preserved and upon the death of his parents, he laid them to rest beside the relics of the confessors.
Ephrem the Syrian has also eulogized the Forty Martyrs.
Sozomen, who was an eyewitness, has left an interesting account of the finding of the relics in
Constantinople, in the shrine of
Saint Thyrsus built by
Caesarius, through the instrumentality of Empress
Pulcheria.
In the East ,
Jerusalem The memory of the Forty Martyrs is widespread all over the East. The
Forty Saints Monastery in
Sarandë, modern day
Albania, which gave its name in Greek to the city itself (Άγιοι Σαράντα,
Hagioi Saranda), was built in the 6th century AD, and is thought to have been an important pilgrimage site. The Churches of
St. Sophia in
Ohrid (modern-day
North Macedonia) and
Kyiv (
Ukraine) contain their depictions, datable to the 11th and 12th centuries, respectively. A number of auxiliary chapels were dedicated to the Forty, and there are several instances when an entire
temple (church building) is dedicated to them: for example
Xeropotamou Monastery on
Mount Athos and the 13th-century
Holy Forty Martyrs Church, in
Veliko Tarnovo,
Bulgaria.
Anna Komnene speaks of a Church of the 40 saints located in Constantinople, in the
Alexiad. In 2013 the Feast of the Holy Forty Martyrs in
Štip was inscribed in
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists of
North Macedonia. In
Syria, the
Armenian Cathedral of Aleppo and the
Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Homs are dedicated to the Forty Martyrs. The
feast day of the Forty Martyrs falls on March 9. In Orthodox Churches that follow the
Julian calendar, this day is intentionally placed so that it will fall during
Great Lent. There is an intentional play on the number forty being both the number of martyrs and the days in the fast. Their feast also falls during Great Lent so that the endurance of the martyrs will serve as an example to the faithful to persevere to the end (i.e., throughout the forty days of the fast) in order to attain heavenly reward (participation in
Pascha, the
Resurrection of Jesus). There is a pious custom of baking “skylarks” (pastries shaped like skylarks) on this day, because people believed that birds sing at this time to announce the arrival of spring. This is particularly evident in the large 10th-century ivory plaque from the
Bode Museum and the Palaiologan portable mosaic set in wax, from
Dumbarton Oaks. The subject remains popular among Eastern Orthodox
iconographers.
In Syriac traditions Within
Syriac Christianity and especially the
Syriac Orthodox Church, their memory is celebrated by
Assyrians with a major feast called
Rozune (), where a coin is hidden inside a star-shaped bread that is eventually found by the lucky winner.
Jacob of Serugh and
George, Bishop of the Arabs composed poems and biographies of their praise. One of the earliest churches named after them is a Syriac Orthodox church in
Mardin; it remains in use to this day. The
Monastery of St. Moses the Abyssinian, a
Syriac Catholic church that used to be
Syriac Orthodox in
Syria, had an elaborate inscription of the Forty Martyrs above a bust of Christ.
In the West Special devotion to the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste was introduced at an early date into the West. Bishop
Gaudentius of Brescia (d. about 410 or 427) received particles of the ashes of martyrs during a voyage in the East, and placed them with other relics in the altar of the basilica which he had erected, at the
consecration of which he delivered a discourse, still extant. The Church of
Santa Maria Antiqua in the
Roman Forum, built in the fifth century, contains a chapel, built like the church itself on an ancient site, and consecrated to the Forty Martyrs. A sixth or seventh-century mural there depicts their martyrdom. The names of the confessors, as we find them also in later sources, were formerly inscribed on this
fresco. Acts of these martyrs, written subsequently, in
Greek,
Syriac and
Latin, are yet extant, also a "Testament" of the Forty Martyrs. In the West, the feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste was celebrated on 10 March and suppressed in 1969. The
International Men's Day takes place on 19 November. == See also ==