Asterios, Claudios (Klavdios), Neon, and Neonilla, all siblings and martyrs, were Christians who dwelt together and had substantial wealth. They lived during the reign of the pagan Roman emperor Diocletian (384-305 A.D.), when Lysias was governor of Cilicia. After the children's mother reposed, they continued to live with their father and stepmother. At length, their father also reposed, and the stepmother attempted to unjustly retain possession of their parents' possessions. Therefore, in the year 288 A.D. the stepmother betrayed them to the pagan governor, accusing them of being Christians.

The word eternity is frightful! To understand in part what eternity means. I shall give you an example. Imagine that the whole earth is one big piece of granite, and every thousand years a bird comes to sharpen its beak on this rock. When the entire rock is worn away by the bird sharpening its beak, then we have some faint notion of what eternity means--not that we have actually understood eternity, immortality, or life without end! So this life of ours here on earth determines our eternity, like flipping a coin: Paradise or hell! Therefore, how much caution must we have!...