Emperor Constantine's son-in-law, Licinius, who was married to the emperor's sister, pretended to be a Christian before the emperor, but when the emperor allowed him to rule the whole East, he first secretly and then publicly persecuted the Christians and establishes idolatry.

At that time, his wife was very sad, but she could not stop the man from doing wrong. When he surrendered to idolatry, Licinius surrendered himself to all passions, most notably adultery. Because of the onslaught of this unclean passion, he wanted to defile the virgin Glafira, who was serving the empress.

She complained to the empress and the empress secretly sent her to Nicomedia in the Pontic region. The Virgin Glafira reached the city of Amasya, where she was warmly received by Bishop Basil and all the Christians. She was glad to find the opportunity to save her virginity and wrote to the Empress about this. The empress rejoiced and sent her money for the church temple in Amaziah. But one of these letters from Glafira to the empress fell into the hands of the imperial eunuch and he showed it to his master Licinius.

When the emperor learned of Glafira's whereabouts, he sent her and the bishop to Nicomedia. In the meantime Glafira died, and the soldiers brought only Bishop Basil bound. After suffering torture and imprisonment, this blessed man ended up under the sword, and his body was thrown into the sea, in 322.

At the instruction of the Angel of God, his clerics pulled him out of the water with the help of fishing nets and carried him to Amasya, where he was honorably buried in the temple he had erected. Emperor Constantine raised an army against Licinius, defeated him, captured him and sent him into slavery in Gaul, where his apostate life ended.