Mark of Rome

Holy Hieromartyr Mark of Rome was a deacon and suffered under Diocletian and Maximian (284-305), together with his brother Marcellinus. The Azbyka page commemorates them in the life of the Holy Martyr Sebastian of Milan, commander of the palace guard and a secret Christian, and of Nicostratus, Zoe, Castorius, Tranquillinus, Claudius, Symphorian, Victorinus, Tiburtius and Castulus.

The decision to die

Mark and Marcellinus had been thrown into prison and at first confessed the faith, but wavered at the weeping of their pagan parents, wives and children. Sebastian urged them not to drop the standard of victory for the sake of tears, and his word was accompanied by wonders: his face shone like an angel's, and Zoe, Nicostratus' wife, mute for six years, spoke after being signed with the cross. Nicostratus took the chains off the brothers, but they refused to flee, saying that the body can be killed but not the soul that fights for the faith. The presbyter Polycarp then baptized sixty-⁠four people, and the official Chromatius was baptized with his son and household; the number of the enlightened rose to one thousand four hundred. Bishop Gaius consecrated Mark and Marcellinus deacons.

Martyrdom

The persecution reached them one after another: Zoe, Tranquillinus, Nicostratus, Castorius, Claudius, Victorinus, Symphorian, Tiburtius. A false Christian, Torquatus, betrayed the deacons and the official Castulus. Castulus was buried alive; Mark and Marcellinus had their feet nailed to a stump, stood all night in prayer and in the morning were pierced with spears. Sebastian, questioned by Diocletian, was shot with arrows, then killed at the hippodrome and his body thrown into a ditch; he later appeared to Lucina, who buried him in the catacombs.

They are commemorated on 31 December, in the new style.