Blaise, since he excelled in all gentleness and holiness, the Christians chose him as bishop in Sebaste, a city of Cappadocia. Having received the episcopate, on account of Diocletian's persecution he sought out a cave and there led an eremitical life. Birds brought him food and beasts flocked to him with one accord, and while he laid his hand upon them in blessing, they would not depart from him. Indeed, if any of them fell sick, they came to him at once and carried away full health. So the governor of that region, when he had sent his soldiers out to hunt, and they, laboring in vain elsewhere, came by chance to the cave of holy Blaise, found there a great multitude of beasts standing before him;
and when they could in no way capture them, astonished, they reported it to their lord; who at once sent more soldiers and ordered that they should bring him to him along with all the Christians. But on that very night Christ appeared to him three times, saying: 'Rise and offer me a sacrifice.' And behold, the soldiers arrived saying: 'Come out! The governor calls you.' To them holy Blaise answered: 'Welcome, my sons; now I see that God has not forgotten me.' And going with them, he never ceased from preaching, and before them he worked many wonders. Then a certain woman brought to his feet her dying son, in whose throat a fish-bone lay crosswise, and with tears begged that he might be healed.
Holy Blaise, laying his hands upon him, prayed that this boy, and all who should ask anything in his name, might obtain the benefit of healing; and at once he was healed. A certain poor little woman who had but a single pig, which however a wolf had violently carried off, besought holy Blaise to have her pig restored to her. He, smiling, said: 'Woman, do not grieve; your pig will be restored to you.' Immediately the wolf came and gave the widow back her pig. As Blaise entered the city, by the prince's order he was consigned to prison. On the next day the governor ordered him to be presented to him. Seeing him, he greeted him with flattering words, saying: 'Rejoice, Blaise, friend of the gods.' To him Blaise:
'Rejoice you too, most excellent governor; but do not call them gods, but demons, for they are handed over to eternal fire together with those who honor them.' The angry governor ordered him to be beaten with cudgels and thrust back into prison. To him Blaise said: 'Senseless one, do you hope by your punishments to take from me the love of my God, who have Him within me as my strengthener!' Hearing this, that widow to whom he had restored the pig killed the pig itself, and carried the head with the feet, a candle and bread, to holy Blaise. He, giving thanks, ate, and said to her: 'Each year offer a candle in the church of my name, and it shall be well with you and with whoever does this.' This she always did, and much prosperity was hers.
After this, when the governor, having had him brought out from prison, could not make him bow to the gods, he ordered him to be hung upon wood and his flesh to be torn with iron combs, and so to be carried back again to prison. Seven women therefore, following, gathered up the drops of blood; who were soon seized and compelled to sacrifice to the gods. They said: 'If you wish us to adore your gods with reverence, send them to the pond, that with our faces washed we may be able to adore them more cleanly.' The governor was made glad, and rather quickly what he had said was fulfilled. But they seized the gods and threw them into the middle of the pond, saying: 'If they are gods, we shall see.' Hearing this, the governor, raging with anger and striking himself, said to his attendants:
'Why did you not hold our gods, that they might not be thrown into the depth of the pond?' They said to him: 'The women spoke deceitfully with you and threw them into the pond.' To him the women said: 'The true God does not suffer deceits; and indeed if they had been gods, they would certainly have foreknown what we meant to do to them.' And the angry governor ordered molten lead and iron combs and seven breastplates white-hot with fire to be prepared on one side, and on the other seven linen shirts to be brought. When he told them to choose from these whichever they preferred, one of them, having two little children, boldly ran forward and, taking the linen shirts, threw them into the furnace. But the children said to their mother:
'Do not leave us behind you, sweetest mother, but as you filled us with the sweetness of milk, so fill us with the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom.' Then the governor ordered them to be hung up and their flesh to be torn with iron combs. Their flesh was as white as snow, and instead of blood, milk flowed. But while they were enduring the torments unwillingly, an angel of the Lord came to them and manfully comforted them, saying: 'Do not fear; for the good workman who has begun well and finishes well, both deserves a blessing from the one who hired him for the completed work, and receives wages for his labor, and possesses joy as his reward.' Then the governor ordered them to be taken down and cast into the furnace. But by divine power the fire was extinguished, and they came out unharmed. To them the governor said:
'Now then give up the magic art and adore our gods.' They answered: 'Finish what you have begun, for we are already called to the heavenly kingdom.' Then he, having pronounced sentence, ordered them to be beheaded. As they were about to be beheaded, with bent knees they worshiped, saying: 'O God, who have separated us from darkness and led us into the sweetest light, who have made us your sacrifice, receive our souls and bring us to attain eternal life.' And thus, their heads cut off, they passed over to the Lord. After this the governor ordered Blaise to be presented to him, and said to him: 'Now at least, do you adore the gods or not?' To him Blaise: 'Impious one, I do not fear your threats. Do as you will.'
'For my body I deliver up entirely to you.' Then he ordered him to be cast into the pond. But Blaise made the sign over the water, and at once it remained fixed like dry land; and he said: 'If your gods are true, show their power and enter here.' And sixty-five men who entered the pond were immediately drowned. But an angel of the Lord, descending, said to him: 'Come out, Blaise, and receive the crown prepared for you by God.' And when he had come out, the governor said to him: 'Have you altogether resolved not to adore the gods?' To him Blaise: 'Know, wretch, that I am a servant of Christ and do not adore demons.' And at once he ordered him to be beheaded.
And he himself prayed to the Lord that whoever should seek his protection on account of an affliction of the throat or any other infirmity whatsoever, might be heard and at once delivered. And behold, a voice came to him from the heavens, that it should be as he had prayed. And so, together with two little boys, he was beheaded about the year of the Lord two hundred and eighty-three.