Ephemia, the all-praised and Great Martyr of Christ, lived during the reign of the Roman pagan emperor Diocletians (284-305 A.D.). The holy maiden hailed from the city of Chalcedon of Bithynia on the Bosporus. Her father was the celebrated and wealthy Senator Philophron. Her mother was Theodosiane, conspicuous for her piety and sympathy for the poor. From this root, it did not take long for the goodly scion, Ephemia, to establish a well-known and profound piety and faith in Christ.

Niketas, bearing the name of one who conquers, was a valiant soldier of Christ. The handsome and wondrous man of God was born of notable and wondrous parents of the race of the Goths. The Goths at that time were generally reputed to be a barbarous and harsh people who lived by the Istros River, known by the local inhabitants as the Danube. It is a marvel that though Niketas was born and raised amid such surroundings, he never adulterated the inborn nobility of his soul. His good resolve shone forth as a brilliant sun in a land and among a people benighted by the dark clouds of barbarism and unbelief. Niketas did not take on any of their harshness and their fierce way of life, nor their religion.

Saint Athanasius the Great attests, "He was crucified before the sun and all creation as witnesses, and before those who put Him to death; and, by His death, has salvation come to all; and all creation has been ransomed. He is the Life of all, and He it is that as a sheep yielded His body in death as a substitute, for the salvation of all, even though the Jews believe it not."

"One Lord was trampled on by Death" writes Saint Ephraim the Syrian (306-383 A.D.). "And in His turn trod out a way over Death...Our Lord bare His Cross and went forth according to the will of Death: but He cried upon the Cross (Matthew 27:50-52) and brought forth the dead from within Sheol (Hades) against the will of Death. For in that very thing by which Death had slain Him, that is, the body, in that as armor He bore off the victory over Death.