Martinian of Caesarea

Venerable Martinian of Caesarea was a hermit in Palestine, born at Caesarea of Palestine, and reposed in 422 at Athens. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 13 February by the old calendar (26 February by the new), and the Roman Catholic Church on 13 February. His life is known in several versions, which do not agree in everything.

At eighteen he began the life of seclusion in a place called the Place of the Ark. The Serbian source says that he withdrew to a mountain called the Ark, in Cappadocia, where he spent twenty-⁠five years in fasting, vigils, prayer and struggle with many temptations. Others say that he lived in a cave near Caesarea of Palestine. Zoe, a woman of ill repute, tried to tempt him, but he, to resist her, stood in the fire, barefoot, until the pain brought tears to his eyes and killed in him every desire. He not only turned Zoe to the Lord but also sent her to a monastery in Bethlehem.

According to tradition, after seven months Martinian was healed of his burns and, seeking solitude, moved from his desert cell to an uninhabited rocky island. One day during a storm the waves cast a young Christian woman, Photina, on it. Martinian, in order not to fall into temptation, left her on the island, pointing out the stores of bread and water which the shipman brought him every two months, threw himself into the sea and was carried to the shore by dolphins. According to the Serbian source, he then resolved no longer to settle anywhere permanently, but to travel unceasingly, and in two years he passed through one hundred and sixty-⁠four cities, correcting and counselling people. In old age he went to Athens, where he departed to the Lord.