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July 27 | Feast day of Saints Maximian, Malchus, Martinian, Dionysius, John, Serapion, and Constantine, the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus

These Christian saints were Ephesians (ie, from Ephesus in Turkey), walled up by Roman Emperor Decius (249 - 251) in a cave for their faith, in 250 CE. They were found by masons in 479, and were only asleep, and thought that they had been asleep only one night, instead of 229 years.

Rubbing from his eyes the sleep of more than two centuries, Malchus made his way into town to buy bread for the others, and was amazed to see crosses on buildings, for when he fell asleep Decius’s Roman gods were all that could be worshipped. The bakers were amazed at the coins he offered, and thought that the young man had found treasure.

When Malchus saw them talking together, he was afraid that they might take him before the emperor, and asked to be let go, saying they could keep the strange money – and the bread. The bakers said if he would share the treasure they wouldn’t tell anyone, but Malchus was so afraid he couldn’t speak. The bakers tied a cord around his neck and dragged him through the city, where all the citizens abused him, saying that he had found a treasure and was keeping it secret.

The outraged townsfolk (no doubt brandishing torches) brought him before St Martin and Antipater. Malchus reaffirmed that it was his money and he’d got it from members of his family, but, of course, his interrogators had not heard of these relatives, and asked how he could have money hundreds of years old.

The bishop Martin took Malchus up to the cave of which the youth spoke, and was amazed by the sight, six more young men yawning over their Froot Loops*, “theyr visages lyke unto roses flouryng”, as a medieval chronicler wrote.

It wasn’t long before the emperor came from Constantinople and saw the young saints, whose “vysages shone like to the sonne”. He commanded that there be built sepulchres of gold and silver for them, but they came to him that night and asked that their bodies be allowed to lie on the earth, which he did for them … and there they died like the rest of us will. Or, so it is said.

This Christianized version of an older legend was already current in the 6th Century. Perhaps the most ingenuous was written in Syriac about 500 by Saint James of Sarugh. Saint Gregory of Tours spread the story to Europe. Its popularity was heightened in Medieval Europe when it was included in The Golden Legend by the Dominican Jacobus de Voragine (c. 1230 - '98).

Butler’s Lives of the Saints tells us the relics of the Seven Sleepers are preserved in a large stone coffin in the church of St Victor, Marseilles. The cave they were uncovered in was a shrine for pilgrims until modern times.

The legend has an echo in the Koran. In the holy book of Islam, the seven men of Ephesus slept for 309 years and were accompanied by a dog, Kratim (aka Al Rakim, Katmir or Ketmir). This canine became a great prophet and philosopher after its sleep, and it dwells in the Moslem paradise next to the ass of Balaam. The other eight animals there are the ant of Solomon, the whale of Jonah, the ram of Isaac, the calf of Abraham, the camel of Saleh, the cuckoo of Belkis, the ox of Moses and the mare of Mohammed (named Borak).

The long sleep is a common theme of myth and folklore, and the 'King in the Mountain' is a common myth motif. King Arthur is the most famous, and he is said to be merely sleeping until his country is in dire need, whereupon he will return.

Wales also has two other sleepers. In 1378, Welsh chieftain Owain Lawgoch died, but legend claims he still sleeps in a cave in southern Wales, his warriors protecting him, waiting to return to fight for his country's liberation. Yet another Welsh sleeper is Owain Glendower (Owain Glyn Dwr, 1359 - 1416) the last Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales. Glendower led Wales to fight for its independence in 1400, but he lost the campaign and his life. He is said to still sleep in Castle Cave in Gwent waiting, with his warriors, to be awakened to fight and finally gain Welsh independence. Frederick Barbarossa (pictured at left) is another famous 'King in the Mountain', as is St Wenceslas.

Portugal's legend of Don Sebastian (King Sebastião I of Portugal; January 20, 1554 - August 4, 1578), a missing leader who will return to liberate his people, is one with a variant of this motif, and led to a cult that continued in one form or another until modern times. In Brazil, there was a legend that Don Sebastian appears in the form of a black bull on the beaches of mysterious Lencois Island, off the coast of Maranhao. Many Brazilians believed that the king would return to help them against the 'godless' Brazilian Republic.