Augustine Sokolovski
On this November day, November 7, there are few names in the calendar. Among them are Martyrius and Marcian of Constantinople. The saints are mentioned by Sozomen (400-450) in his "Ecclesiastical History".
Martyrius and Marcian were lawyers for the professions and close associates of Bishop Paul I the Confessor (337-339, 341, 347-350). The latter was the second bishop of Constantinople since the city's foundation (330), and a staunch supporter of Nicene Orthodoxy. Being pressed by the sons of Constantine the Great, who had been on the imperial throne for decades and supported the Arian heretics, Paul was deposed from his see three times between 337 and 350, and was forced to flee each time. He ended his days in exile in Cappadocia, where around 351 he was strangled by guards while serving the liturgy.
Martyrius and Marcian helped Paul not only in secular matters, but also in church matters, since the former was a subdeacon and the latter a reader. After Paul's death, under the heretical Constantinople Bishop Macedonia (342-346, 351-360) and the Arian-supporting Emperor Constantius II (337-361), the saints were arrested. They were accused of participating in a popular rebellion, the murder of the prefect Hermogenes, and an attempt to overthrow Macedonius.
Understanding that all these accusations were only a pretext for reprisals against the still surviving supporters of the murdered Bishop Paul, they confessed their faith in the Holy Trinity, after which, for formal resistance to the orders of the emperor, they were beheaded outside the city walls. Later, under John Chrysostom, who himself denounced the injustice and hypocrisy of the imperial court, and therefore needed the heavenly intercession of the saints, a church was erected on the site of their burial.
Martyrius and Marcian are an amazing example of lay martyrdom in suffering for loyalty to Christian Orthodoxy. Like many new martyrs of our Church who suffered shortly after November 7, 1917, the saints were killed on false charges that were not directly related to questions of faith. They did not renounce their friend and teacher Bishop Paul, and became an example of martyrdom for fidelity. In fulfillment of the words of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel, they gave their lives for their friends (cf. John 15:13), and were killed by their brothers.