During the Christian persecutions of Licinius, in 320 B.C., the Forty Martyrs were frozen to death at Sebaste. A warm bath house on the nearby shore of the frozen lake upon which the faithful Catholics lay freezing was provided to encourage them to renounce their Christian faith.
One of the forty freezing Catholics left the dying martyrs to avoid being frozen to death with his 39 comrades. (It is written that he died as soon as he entered). A guard was so impressed with the frozen and freezing martyrs that he left his post to join them, freezing to an agonizing death with them on the ice of the windy lake.
Just as one of the 40 martys gave up his faith for life, so one of the persecutor’s guards gained faith and saved his soul.
The story helps us see that we should pray for those on the other side. There are salvageable able souls among them.
