The New Student's Reference Work/Seven Sleepers

Sev′en Sleep′ers, the heroes of a celebrated tale. During the flight of the Christians from the persecution under Decius seven Christians of Ephesus took refuge in a cave near the city, where they were discovered by their pursuers, who walled the entrance to starve them to death. Instead they fell into a sleep which lasted from 250 or 251 to the reign of Theodosius (447). They imagined that their sleep had been but for a night. One of the seven went secretly into the city to buy food, and was thunderstuck to see the cross on churches and other buildings. Offering a coin of Decius at a bakery he was arrested, his startling story not being believed till he guided the citizens to the cave where he had left his comrades. The emperor heard enough from their lips to make him believe in the life beyond the grave, whereupon they sank again to sleep till the resurrection. The Roman church holds their festival on June 27. The story was adopted by Mohammed. A like story is told in Germany. See Rydberg's Teutonic Mythology.