Martyrs Victor and Sosthenes of Chalcedon

Victor and Sosthenes were two soldiers of Chalcedon who, according to the synaxarion, were converted to Christ in the course of the martyrdom of the Greatmartyr Euphemia and themselves suffered for the faith. They are commemorated together on September 16, the feast of Euphemia, whose passion frames the whole of their story.

By the tradition preserved in the Lives of the Saints, the two men were among the soldiers serving under the Proconsul Priscus during the persecution associated with the early fourth century. When Priscus ordered Euphemia cast into a red-hot furnace, Victor and Sosthenes saw angels in the flames who prevented them from touching the saint, and they refused to carry out the command.

Confronted by the proconsul and pressed to sacrifice to the idols, the soldiers replied that they had come to know the true God and openly declared that they too were Christians. They were placed in shackles and condemned to be devoured by wild beasts. As they were led to their death they prayed that the Lord would forgive the sins they had committed in their former pagan life. The tradition relates that a voice from heaven called them to their rest, that the beasts did not touch their bodies, and that Christians afterward buried the two martyrs secretly.