considered the former as flowing out of the latter. 'We begin with the Greek fathers. Basil the Great calls the forty soldiers who are said to have suffered martyrdom under Licinius in Sebaste about 320, not only a " lioly choir," an " invincible phalanx," but also " common patrons of the human family, helpers of our prayers and most mighty inter- cessors with God." ' Ephraim Syrus addresses the departed saints, in general, in such words as these : " Remember me, ye heirs of God, ye l^rethren of Christ, pray to the Saviour for me, that I through Christ may be delivered from him who assaults me from day to day ;" and the mother of a martyr : " O holy, true, and blessed mother, plead for me with the saints, and pray : ' Ye trium- phant martyrs of Christ, 'praj for Ephraim, the least, the mis- erable,' that I may find grace, and through the grace of Christ may be saved." Gregory of Nyssa asks of St. Tlieodore, whom ho thinks invisibly j)resent at his memorial feast, intercessions for his country, for peace, for the preservation of oi'thodoxy, and begs him to arouse the apostles Peter and Paul and John to prayer for the church planted by them (as if they needed such an admonition!). lie relates with satisfsiction that the people ' Basil. M. Horn. 19, in XL. Martyres, §8: *n x^p^r uyw^, w crvvTayixa. UpSu, to nvvain<TfJ.hs ap^ayvs, tSi koivo\ <pv\aKes rov jfvovs t Si v av^pwirwy (0 communes generis hiimani custodes), aya^ol Kowatvol (ppovTlSouf, Sevveo)! awtp- yo\, TrpfalSevral SwaTuTaTot (legati apud Deum potcntissimi), dirrfpej rrjj olKovfXfi/fl^, 6.v^7] tSjv (KK\7iaicov, OfiUi oux V yv Karficpv^ei', dAA' ovpavhs uneSf^zro. § 81. THE WOKSHIP OF MAETYKS AND SAINTS. 439 Btreamed to the burial place of this saint in such multitudes that the place looked like an ant hill. In his Life of St. Ephraim, he tells of a pilgrim who lost himself among the bar- barian posterity of Ishmael, but by the prayer, "St. Ephraim, help me ! " ' and the protection of the saint, happily found his way liome. He himself thus addresses him at the close: " Thou who standest at the holy altar, and with angels servest the life-giving and most holy Trinity, remepiber us all, and im- plore for us the forgiveness of sins and the enjoyment of the eternal kingdom." ' Gregory Nazianzen is convinced that the departed Cj-prian guides and protects his church in Carthage more powerfully by his intercessions than he formerly did by his teachings, be- cause he now stands so much nearer the Deity ; he addresses him as present, and implores his favor and protection.^ In his eulogy on Athanasius, who was but a little while dead, he prays : " Look graciously down upon us, and dispose this peo- ple to be perfect worshippers of the perfect Trinity; and when the times are quiet, preserve us — when they arc troubled, re- move