The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus

During the seventh persecution of the Christians under the Emperor Decius (A.D. 250), seven young men, converts to Christianity, refused to bow down before an idol erected by order of the Emperor at Ephesus.

They fled to a cavern in Mount Celion; and Decius, enraged at their escape, ordered all the caves in the mountain to be sealed up.

Nothing was heard of the young men for two hundred and thirty years, when they were accidentally discovered by some workmen who were digging the foundation of a building.

They awoke from their long sleep; and the antiquity of the coin which they offered, that some one should bring them food, attracted the attention of the authorities.

They died soon after being discovered; and their bodies were taken to Marseilles in a large stone coffin, still to be seen in St. Victor's Church.

The preservation of these young men was declared to be a miracle, and the 27th of July was appointed as a festival day in honor of it.

The names of the young men were, Constantine, Dionysius, John, Maximiam, Malchus, Martinian, and Serapion.