The Hieromartyr Basil, Bishop of Amasea (322)
Licinius, the brother-in-law of Constantine, to whose sister he was married, pretended to be a Christian before the great emperor. When he received authority from the emperor to govern the entire East, he began, at first secretly and later openly, to persecute the Christians and to strength- en idolatry. His wife grieved much over this, but she was unable to dis- suade her husband from this shamefulness. Giving himself over to idolatry, Licinius also gave himself up to all the passions without restraint but, most of all, to brutality toward women. Under the assault of these unclean passions, Licinius wanted to defile the virgin Glaphyra, who was in the service of the empress. Glaphyra complained to the empress, and the empress secretly sent her away from the imperial court of Nicomedia to the province of Pontus. Glaphyra arrived at the town of Amasea and was cordially received there by Bishop Basil and other Christians. Glaphyra was elated that God had saved her virginity, and she wrote to the empress concerning this. The empress also rejoiced and she forwarded money to the church in Amasea. However, a letter of Glaphyra’s, which was directed to the empress, fell into the hands of the emperor’s eunuch, who showed it to Licinius. The emperor, learning where Glaphyra was staying, immediately ordered that she and the bishop be brought back to Nicomedia. In the meantime Glaphyra died, and the soldiers brought Basil back to Nicomedia, alone and bound. Following tortures and imprisonment, this blessed man was beheaded and thrown into the sea, in the year 322. Through a vision of an angel of God, his clergy found his body near the town of Sin- ope. They removed his body from the water with the aid of a fisherman’s net and translated it to Amasea, where they honorably buried it in the church which he, by his efforts, had built. The Emperor Constantine raised up an army against Licinius, defeated him, captured him, and exiled him to Gaul, where he ended his God-hating life.
