Holy Martyr Bassa and Her Children

Life

Bassa was the wife of a certain pagan priest, yet at the same time a secret Christian. She raised her sons in the Christian spirit. Her own husband despised her on account of her faith and handed her over, together with her sons, to the judge for torture. After fierce torments her sons were beheaded with the sword (it is thought in Edessa, in Macedonia). Bassa was filled with joy that she saw her sons honorably complete their martyric feat for Christ, and she herself went from torment to torment with even greater willingness. When they cast her into the sea, angels appeared and led her to an island in the Sea of Marmara, where she was beheaded by the sword, in the time of Maximian. Thus holy Bassa was doubly deemed worthy of the Kingdom of Christ, both as a martyr and as the mother of martyrs.