Augustine Sokolovski
Marcian the Presbyter is canonized for building churches. Ancient sources have preserved the names of many churches erected in Constantinople by Saint Marcian. The righteous man departed to the Lord in 471. His relics were placed in the Church of John the Baptist that he built, from where his veneration soon spread. His memory is celebrated on January 23 (10).
The life of this saint is not just a story of virtues, but an invisible history of redemption in a single human biography. As is almost always the case, cause and effect relationships remain under a veil of obscurity. Historians say, that initially Marcian was a schismatic from the Novatian party. This movement preserved Orthodox dogma, but was distinguished by the extreme strictness of its demands on the Church and especially on its ministers. Paradoxically, this is also the case with contemporary unbelieving modernity!
Communication with the great elder of that time, St Auxentius of Bithynia (400-473), who founded one of the four Holy Mountains of Byzantine monasticism, of which only Athos has survived to this day, brought Marcian into unity with the Orthodox Church. The Holy Patriarch Anatolius (+458), a native of Alexandria and heir to the strict monastic tradition of Egypt, himself elevated him to the rank of presbyter.
Soon Marcian lost his parents. Being from a noble Roman family, hence, apparently, the "heritage" of "Roman Novatianism", he decided to give all his inheritance to the construction of churches. Thus, as if the schism, which in itself consists in the division of Churches among themselves, was abolished in their construction. Previously, Marcian belonged to those who demanded virtue from others. Now he began to live in non-covetousness.
The life contains an episode in which the Goths, a people who lived apart from the Byzantine Church, presented precious vessels to the church that Marcian had built. In gratitude, he did not ask for any rewards or privileges for them, as was the custom of the time, but simply gave them the permission to read the Scriptures in this church in the Gothic language. This acceptance of another, “barbarian,” in the eyes of the Byzantines, culture into the sacred sphere had enormous missionary significance. It is not enough to build churches; they must be filled.
The life also tells of the great mercy of the saint and the miracles and signs he performed during his lifetime. Marcian’s example teaches that the construction of churches becomes the foundation, literally, the “real cause,” of holiness if it is combined with orthodoxy, virtue, mercy, and non-acquisitiveness. In particular, thanks to Marcian, the Byzantine capital over the centuries became a great holy Orthodox city, the likes of which have never been and never will be in history. It is sad that nothing of its former sacred appearance has been preserved. This happens when the mission does not accompany the construction of sacred buildings.