THE FIVE HOLY MARTYRS: EUSTRATIOS, AUXENTIOS, MARDARIOS, EUGENIOS AND ORESTES
These
five holy martyrs lived during the reign of the Roman emperors
Diocletian and Maximian, in 296 A.D. At that time, perhaps the worst
persecutions against Christians had broken out, aiming to wipe off all
Christians from the face of the earth.
In
those days the Cappadocians were being slandered to the emperors,
claiming they did not respect or listen to the emperors' orders and were
preparing to defect.
When
Diocletian heard this, he was disturbed. He immediately ordered that
the rulers of Cappadocia be removed from office, and in their place he
sent two wise Hellenistic Romans, authorizing them to put to death any
person found out to be Christian, without needing a pretext and under
false accusations.
