The Holy Martyrs, Suffering at Nikomedia

Commemorated on February 7

The Holy Martyrs, Suffering at Nikomedia, were servants of the four dignitaries Bassos, Eusebios, Eutykhios and Basilides, who together with their wives suffered for Christ (Comm. 5 January) in the year 303 during the reign of the emperor Diocletian (284-305).
After the death by martyrdom of their masters, the servants decided to follow their example and they too confessed themselves Christians before Diocletian. Unswayed neither by persuasion nor promises nor rewards, they all – 1003 men, with women and small children, were cut down by soldiers surrounding them in a tight circle, such that none of them remained alive.