Forty Holy Virgin-Martyrs & Ammon the Deacon

The Company and Their Teacher

The forty women lived as Christian ascetics at Adrianople in Thrace during the reign of Licinius, who at that time ruled the eastern part of the Roman Empire alongside Constantine the Great. The deacon Ammon served as their spiritual teacher; by the account of their life he gathered them together and read out their names one by one, encouraging them with the assurance that Christ would call each by name as they entered the kingdom of Heaven. Tradition preserves a list of the women's names, some of which appear to be later additions rather than authentic to the time of the martyrdom.

Confession and Martyrdom

When a local official demanded that the women sacrifice to idols, they confessed their faith and, according to the account, overturned the idols set before them. The deacon Ammon was subjected to severe tortures, including being suspended and having his sides raked, his wounds burned, and a heated bronze helmet placed on his head, which he survived.

The martyrs were then taken to Heraclea in Thrace. There, by the synaxarion's account, they were put to death by several means: a number leapt into fire, eight were beheaded together with the deacon Ammon, others were slain by the sword, and still others were killed by burning irons and by knives. The Church keeps their joint memory on September 1.