Martyrs Sergius and Baccus in Syria

Sergius and Bacchus were Roman officers in the emperor's guard. Their Passion tells that, denounced as Christians, they refused to sacrifice to Zeus; the emperor had their military belts and gold collars taken off and had them paraded through the streets in women's clothing.

They were sent to the province on the Euphrates. Bacchus died under the scourge; Sergius was made to walk in shoes studded with nails and was then beheaded at Resafa in Syria, c. 303. Resafa, renamed Sergiopolis, became one of the great pilgrimage centres of the East, and their cult spread from Syria to Constantinople and Rome.