Maximilian of Noricum

Holy Hieromartyr Maximilian of Noricum was bishop of Noricum, with his see at Lorch, and died a martyr on 12 October 282. The Azbyka page commemorates him together with the Holy Hieromartyr Quirinus, bishop of Siscia, after Saint Philaret of Chernigov.

Maximilian

He was born at Celeia in a rich family and had the priest Orianus as teacher. At nineteen he lost his mother (his father had died a martyr under Decius six years before), gave his inheritance to the poor, freed his slaves and gave himself to the Lord. Around 260 he was consecrated bishop and preached among the Slavic Norici, and farther west, in present-⁠day Bavaria. There a tenth-⁠century manuscript was later found with confessions and a teaching in the Slavic language written in Latin letters for the newly baptized. He helped the sick, the poor and the persecuted. When the emperor Numerian began the persecution and the prefect of Noricum frightened the Christians so that many sacrificed, Maximilian returned to his land to strengthen them. He told the prefect that he was sent to defend the land from enemies yet showed himself the cruellest enemy. Taken to the temple of Mars, he refused to sacrifice and was beheaded. His death helped Christianity spread among the Slavs on the Sava and the Adriatic coast.

Quirinus

Quirinus, bishop at Siscia (Sisak), is mentioned by Blessed Jerome and sung by Prudentius. When the prefect of Lower Pannonia began a persecution, Quirinus withdrew from the city by the Lord's word to flee from one city to another, but was found. He refused to sacrifice and refused the office of priest of Jupiter, saying he was already a true priest and offered himself as sacrifice to God. He was beaten and imprisoned; at night a light filled the prison, and the jailer Marcellus believed. Sent in chains through the towns of the Danube to the prefect of Upper Pannonia, he was condemned at Savaria to be thrown into the river with a millstone round his neck. He floated long, urging those present not to fear, and the waters covered him only at his prayer, in 309. Through the martyrdom of Quirinus and Maximilian the faith spread among the Slavs: the bishop of Mursa defended Orthodoxy at the Council of Sardica (347), and the bishop of Jadera was at Aquileia (381).

They are commemorated on 25 October, in the new style. The name of Maximilian is not in today's Menologion of the Russian Church.