Martiros

Saint Martiros (Mardiros) was the son of Saint Sarkis the Warrior, a Roman centurion of the fourth century. He lived in the fourth century and died around 362 or 363. When Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire, Sarkis left military service and, with his son, took refuge in Armenia under the protection of King Tiran. When the emperor Julian the Apostate reached Antioch, Tiran urged them to leave Armenia for the Persian empire.

Shapur II, hearing of Sarkis' military skill, put him at the head of his army. Sarkis credited his victories to God and urged the soldiers to become Christians; some were baptized by priests who travelled with the army. Denounced to the king by the dissatisfied, Sarkis, Martiros and fourteen Christian companions were summoned to the palace and ordered to sacrifice in a pagan temple. Sarkis refused and destroyed the religious objects. Shapur ordered Martiros to be killed in his father's presence and the fourteen companions to be beheaded; he left Sarkis in prison to reconsider, but seeing that he stayed firm, ordered his execution in 363. Both Sarkis and Martiros are canonized in the Armenian Apostolic Church.