Marcian and Martyrius

Holy Martyrs Marcian and Martyrius were notaries (secretaries) at Constantinople, put to death around 355, in the time of the emperor Constantius II. They are venerated in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. The Orthodox Church commemorates them on 25 October, and the Catholic Church on 25 October and 7 November. They are patrons of lawyers.

Marcian and Martyrius served at the cathedral of Constantinople. Marcian was a reader and Martyrius a subdeacon; both also had the obedience of notaries, that is, secretaries of the patriarch Paul the Confessor. The emperor Constantius II was on the side of the Arians, while his brothers Constantine and Constans were on the side of the Nicenes. After the death of his brothers and the war with Magnentius, Constantius II established Arianism as the only true faith in the empire. Paul the Confessor was driven from the capital in 350 and sent into exile in Armenia, to Cucusus, where he received the crown of martyrdom; as he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy the Arians burst in and strangled him with his episcopal omophorion. At the council of Milan, Athanasius was condemned and driven from Alexandria in 356. About the same time Marcian and Martyrius, who confessed the Nicene Creed, were seized at Constantinople; for this the eparch Philip tortured them and then cut off their heads with the sword. The faithful took their relics and buried them at the Melandesian gates of Constantinople.

After the victory of the Nicenes over the Arians, Marcian and Martyrius began to be venerated as holy martyrs in the empire. John Chrysostom built a church in their memory. A service was composed for them, the canon of which was written by Joseph the Hymnographer, placed in the Menaion at 25 October. In the time of Patriarch Luke Chrysoberges, on his initiative, a council forbade a harmful custom: at the feast of the holy notaries Marcian and Martyrius, the teachers who taught children penmanship (notaries) were accustomed to wear theatrical masks and to appear thus in public places; the patriarch forbade this for the future.