Seven Sleepers
Feast 07-27
Patron of
About
The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus are the heroes of a late antique Christian legend cherished in both East and West. According to the story, a group of young men of Ephesus, faithful to Christ during the Roman persecutions of the third century, hid in a cave to escape the emperor's wrath. There, by a miracle of God, they fell into a deep sleep and woke only many years later, finding the world changed and the faith they had confessed now triumphant.
The tale, recounted in both Christian tradition and the Qur'an, became a powerful image of God's protection of those who persevere under persecution and of the hope of resurrection. A shrine at Ephesus long marked the cave. Honored on 27 July, the Seven Sleepers are invoked as a sign that the Lord preserves his own even in the darkest hour.
Suggested prayer
O God, who by a wonderful providence preserved the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus through the long night of persecution and woke them to witness your faithfulness, grant through their intercession that all who suffer for the truth may trust in your protection and rise to newness of life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
