Martyrs Bassus

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS BASSUS, EUSEBIUS, EUTYCHIUS, AND BASILIDES.

Under Diocletian.

From the Greek Menaea.

The hands of the executioners amputate the hands of Bassus, Profane hands cut sacred hands. Eusebius, hacked with axes in all his members, Remains inviolable in the orthodox faith. Eutychius they tore into three parts, Him who honored the three divine Persons. When Basilides refuses to be excluded From the lot of the combatants, his belly is torn open.

[2] These men lived when Diocletian held the Empire, conspicuous for their wealth and senatorial rank. They had been won over to Christ and initiated by his baptism, The condition of the saints, when they had seen Bishop Theopemptus overcome dire torments and perform wondrous prodigies by the power of Christ. Their conversion. They are therefore brought before the Emperor, and first stripped of their military belts, and then they meet various ends of life. Their contest. St. Bassus was inserted into a pit up to the thighs, and his hands were cut off, and his entire body was gashed; and so he breathed his last. St. Eusebius was suspended by his head and dismembered bit by bit with axes. St. Eutychius was violently stretched upon four stakes and torn into three parts. St. Basilides had his belly slit open with a sword. And so they obtained the crown of martyrdom.