MARTYR CALLISTRATUS AND 49 COMPANIONS

The Greek word “martyr” means “witness.” The origin of this title is in the Apocalypse. The early Church saw in the holy Military Saints a willingness to exchange strength for weakness in the image of the “divine emptying” kenosis of the Lord Jesus Himself (cf. Philippians 2:7). It was not the fruit of human effort, but the triumph of the Grace of Predestination, that transformed that force, the Roman police and army, which was originally conceived by the pagans during the persecutions to, as in the title of the Metallica song, “seek and destroy” Christianity into witnesses of faith in the Crucified One.

1 The suffering of the holy martyr Callistratus and forty-nine soldiers with him was recorded by the Constantinople official and historian Simeon the Metaphrast (900–987), who is considered the author of the most important medieval Byzantine collection of saints’ lives. According to Simeon, Callistratus was a Roman officer. He came from Carthage and served in the Roman army. Like many Africans at the beginning of the fourth century, when Diocletian’s Great Persecution broke out in the Empire, Callistratus was a Christian. He did not express his faith publicly, but once he was reported for calling on Jesus in his personal prayers.

2 Callistratus was arrested and interrogated, but even under torture he refused to call on other gods for help or renounce his Christian faith. As a result, he was sewn into a leather bag and thrown into the sea.

3 The name Callistratus translates from Greek as “good warrior.” It could be a professional nickname, as it refers to military skill. Destined to drown, he managed to escape from the depths of the sea. Those around him could not believe what had happened, and so, whether rightly or wrongly, they attributed his rescue to the supernatural intervention of dolphins, which carried him to the surface. Forty-nine soldiers witnessed Callistratus’ escape from death, believed in Christ, and publicly confessed their conversion. All of them were executed.

4 The suffering of the forty-nine martyrs became a baptism of blood. Callistratus, as their leader and therefore, in the eyes of the pagan authorities, a disturber of the peace, was cut into pieces. His relics were later laid to rest in New Rome, that is, Constantinople. Hence the saint’s other name: “Callistratus of Byzantium.” Researchers believe that Callistratus and his retinue, fifty Christians in total, were among the first holy military saints in Christian history to be honored publicly and liturgically as holy martyrs.