March 22 in the church calendar is the commemoration day of the forty martyrs who were tormented in the Sebastian lake (about 320).
It was during the reign of Constantine the Great. In 313, he issued a decree that allowed Christians freedom of religion and thus equalized the rights of pagans and Christians. The co-ruler of Constantine, Licinius, was a pagan and in the part of the Roman Empire subject to him decided to eradicate Christianity. The first victims of his persecution were Christian soldiers. There were forty of them. This detachment was famous for its special bravery and courage.
The pagan Agricola led the imperial army. He ordered the Christian soldiers to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. They all refused. Then they were imprisoned. At night they heard a voice: "He who endures to the end, will be saved." In the morning, Agricola again tried to persuade the soldiers to renounce Christ. And again they didn’t seem.
The trial took place. The soldiers were sentenced to stoning. However, when they began to carry out the sentence, the stones flew wide of the mark. The soldiers were again taken to the dungeon.
The next day, the martyrs were stripped and put on the ice of Lake Sevastiya for the whole night. There was a bitter frost. But in the third hour of the night, the Lord sent salvation to the soldiers: it became warm, the ice melted.
On the morning of the third day, the courageous Christians were still executed.
For the peasants, the memorial day of the forty martyrs was the starting point for sowing buckwheat - after forty frosts. The people call this holiday Soroca. “On the day of Magpie they are measured against the novya. Winter ends, spring begins. " The numeral "forty" is, as it were, the core of many beliefs, customs, signs. So, our ancestors believed that forty birds fly to Soroca from across the sea, and the first is the lark.
In the western regions of the country, in the old days, unmarried girls, in order to get married quickly and happily, had to dance at Soroki, break forty boards and break forty small laces. Sisinius, who was considered a healer against fever, was held in special respect among forty Christian martyrs. In the books of the past, they explain that this belief came to us from Bulgaria, but was able to establish itself in Russia because in the spring, often in former times, fever raged.
Promotional video:
From the book: "100 Great Holidays". Elena Olegovna Chekulaeva