ON ST. MARINUS THE ELDER, MARTYR,
AT ANAZARBUS IN CILICIA.
Under Diocletian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
His fatherland; his public veneration among the Latins and Greeks; eulogies; the time of his martyrdom; the Acts.
Marinus the Elder, M., at Anazarbus in Cilicia (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
Anazarbus, or, as it is in Stephanus of Byzantium, On cities, Ἀναζαρβά, Anazarba, a city of inland level Cilicia on the river Pyramus, The Saint's fatherland, so called, on the testimony of the same author, from a governor or from Anazarbus its founder. From John Moschus in Rosweyde in the Lives of the Fathers, book 10, chapter 51, page 876, as also from the council of Chalcedon, session 1, in Labbe, volume 4 of the Councils, column 79, we have it that it was the metropolis of the second Cilicia. Julian of Anazarbus we gave long ago in our Work at the day XVI of March, volume 11 of that month, page 421. But now we give today's St. Marinus, sprung from the praised city. More concerning it in the geographers; among whom Cellarius in the Account of the ancient world, volume 2, page 154. Let these things concerning his fatherland suffice. I add these concerning his cult.
[2] The Roman Martyrology records thus: At Anazarbus in Cilicia, of holy Marinus the elder, his cult from the Roman Martyrology and the Greek Calendars; who under the emperor Diocletian, and Lysias the governor, being beaten with scourges, hung on a tree and torn, at last, exposed to wild beasts, perished. The Greeks had gone before: for concerning him there treat the Menologium of Cardinal Sirleto, the Basilian Synaxarion, the Turin codex, and our Sirmond-Chifflet Supplement to the printed Menaea; which indeed say nothing of him on this day; but on the XVIII day of October there is briefly marked in them The memory of the holy martyr Marinus the elder, which this distich follows:
Γέρων Μαρῖνος ἐξελέγχει γραῦν πλάνην Τόλμῃ νεάζων, καὶ τελειοῦται ξίφει.
Marinus the elder, refuting the aged error, Grows young in daring, and loses his head by the sword.
Namely, Marinus rebuked the old crone idolatry, not as an unwarlike old man, but like a vigorous youth, etc. From the attendant marks our present-day Martyr is here designated clearly enough; but whether that same one occurs on the said day, the XVIII of October, in the Menologium of Sirleto, which I suspect, or another, is not clearly enough evident from this confused announcement, The commemoration of holy Marinus.
[3] Among other eulogies with which the Saint is praised, the Synaxarion from the Menologium eulogies: collected by order of the emperor Basil has these things, which I thus translate from the Greek text printed at the end of volume 1 of this month: This holy martyr Marinus, in the reign of Diocletian, was from the city of Anazarbus. But when he was a Christian, and was gathering many of the unbelievers to Christ and baptizing them, he is denounced to Lysias the governor: and, being bound and standing before him, and having confessed Christ, he was grievously beaten, and, loaded with heavy iron chains, was cast into custody. But on the following day, being subjected to interrogation, and compelled to deny Christ and to sacrifice to the idols, when he could not be brought to it, he was hung by the feet on a tree, and struck with scourges, but afterward burned with torches; and while he persevered to his last breath in the confession of Christ, he was punished with the sentence of the sword, and, being dragged outside the city, his sacred head was cut off; but his body, cast to the dogs for food, was piously given to a sepulcher by a certain Xantius. The Menologium of Sirleto speaks thus of the burial: His body, cast to the dogs and wild beasts, Xanthias and Sapritius gathered up and buried outside the city of Anazarbus, in the field of Randanus. But the Turin codex a teaches these things: Κατάκειται τὸ τίμιον αὐτοῦ λείψανον ἔξωθεν τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως εἰς κτῆμα τὸ ἐπίκλην Λάραν
six miles away. His venerable body lies outside the same (Anazarbensian) city, in a possession which has the surname Λάραν δραμῶν, at a distance of six miles.
[4] and various readings of them, the time of his life. In the eulogy of our Athlete which is in our said Supplement it is said, first, Προαχθεὶς τῷ ἡγεμόνι ἐν Ταρσῷ; brought before the governor at Tarsus. Secondly, Εἰς δευτέραν ἐξέτασιν ἀχθείς: led to a second interrogation. Thirdly, after the suspension by the feet, τέμνεται τὸ σῶμα τοῖς ξίφεσι, καὶ πῦρ κατὰ τῶν τμηθέντων μελῶν δέχεται. That is, His body is cut with swords, and fire is applied to his severed limbs. Baronius briefly makes mention of his martyrdom in volume 2 of the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year 285, number 14. Castellan nearly agrees with Baronius, when he appends in the margin to the text of his universal Martyrology the year about 289. We have marked the Martyr under Diocletian, following the Acts; from which which of the matters just premised are confirmed or set forth we do not show one by one; since they, being very brief, can be consulted upon them with little trouble.
[5] The Acts. Further, they were transcribed from a manuscript codex of the Imperial library; concerning which Lambeck in the Imperial Library at Vienna, book 8, page 100, number XIV, teaches these things: The fourteenth Greek historical manuscript codex is of parchment, very ancient, elegant, and of the best quality, in folio; but by the injury of time mutilated of some leaves at the end: and it now consists of three hundred and thirteen leaves, divided page by page into two columns, and was once procured at Constantinople by Ogier Busbecq, as he himself testifies by the customary inscription of his own hand. But concerning the Martyrdom of our St. Marinus, which from our transcript, corrected by us here and there in lighter matters, we commit to press, the praised author treats on page 121. The narration pleases by its brevity, contrary to the custom usual among the Greeks, who, being wont to affect the adornment of their subject rather than a sincere exposition of history in reporting the deeds of the Martyrs, while they are eager to trim and polish it with episodes, not rarely corrupt it with an over-sought wordiness.
THE ACTS
By an anonymous author
From a manuscript Codex of the Imperial library at Vienna.
Marinus the Elder, M., at Anazarbus in Cilicia (S.)
By an Anonymous author.
The holy martyr Marinus the elder lived in the time of the emperor Diocletian, Lysias governing the land of the Cilicians; and he was from the metropolis of the Anazarbensians. He, being seized and brought before the governor, who was at Tarsus, and being questioned, confessed himself to be a Christian and a servant of Christ. When therefore Lysias urged him to sacrifice, and promised that he would receive honors from the emperors, holy Marinus said: The honors of the emperors and your friendship, being temporal, I turn away from; but I know the hope which is in Christ my Savior; for to those who come to Him eternal life remains. This I love, this I desire; but to idols I do not sacrifice, for they are the works of men's hands. And Lysias says: Honoring your gray hairs and reverencing your old age, I have become a procurer of insults to the gods; and he threatened to punish him if he would not sacrifice. The Martyr said: The longing for Christ does not yield to threats, does not give way to the sword; wherefore I despise your torments, having put on Christ.
[2] And Lysias said: The forbearance of the tribunal is not sufficient to bring an old man to persuasion. And at his command, taking off his cloak, and stretching him out on the ground, they beat the holy Old Man with green rods, and after this, placing heavy irons upon him, shut him up in prison. And on the next day he is led to interrogation. And Lysias says: Tell me, O Old Man, you who have spent the course of life, and have come near to the gates of death, have you persuaded yourself to sacrifice, or do you still persist in the disobedience of your soul? The Saint said: I, being made steel-hard by the faith of Christ, do not sacrifice to demons, but I honor the God who made heaven and earth, who brought all things forth from nothing, by whose providence the things ordained by Him are disposed kindly and in many ways. And the governor said: Unbending toward our commands does this Old Man stand before us. And he ordered that, being hung by the ends of his feet upon a tree, his body be cut with swords.
[3] But the Saint, as he was being cut, said: Behold, Lord, and help, and grant endurance to Your Athlete, that I may blamelessly finish the course of the contest. And again being compelled to sacrifice he said: Lord, who from my youth have quenched the flame of my desires, who have deemed me worthy to come to this grace, do not now allow me to be led astray by Satan. And Lysias ordered a flame of fire to be applied to the cuts of the swords, that he might make his torment of pains heavier for him. And the lawless man, being put to shame in all things, gave against him the sentence of the sword. And going outside the city they cut off his holy head, and, casting his body to dogs and wild beasts as food, as they had been commanded by the governor, they guarded it, lest it should be stolen by the Christians, and be venerated by them as a martyr.
[4] But the companions of holy Xanthias and Sapricius, praying and remaining nearby (after some days, when at midnight there had arisen lightnings and thunders and violent rains, and the guards had run away because of the signs from heaven), seizing the occasion, with great fear were able to snatch away the holy body uncorrupted; and with haste carried it away to their own city, and, having wrapped the Saint with all care, laid him in the cave which is near the foot of the mountain, and remaining there they accomplished the contest together with him, and were deemed worthy to be laid with him, fulfilling the good confession before God, and receiving the prizes of victory from the Savior, in a place called Rhadamnus, about six miles outside the city of Anazarbus. In which the Father is glorified, and the Son is honored, and the all-holy Spirit is magnified; to whom be glory and might unto the ages of the ages.
The Saint, by Lysias the prefect with blandishments The holy martyr Marinus the elder lived in the time of the emperor Diocletian, Lysias governing the province of Cilicia. He drew his birth from the metropolis of the Anazarbensians [a]. He, being seized, brought before the governor, who was at Tarsus b, and being interrogated, confessed that he was a Christian and a servant of Christ. When therefore Lysias ordered him to sacrifice, and promised that he would receive honors from the emperors, St. Marinus said: The honors of the emperors, and your friendship, I turn away from, as fleeting indeed and perishable; but the hope which is in Christ and my Savior I know; for that eternal life awaits those who come to Him: this I love, this I seek; but to idols I do not sacrifice: For they are the works of men's hands. To whom Lysias: Honoring your gray hairs and reverencing your old age, I am a procurer of injuries with the Gods. And he threatened him with punishments if he would not sacrifice. The Martyr said: He who desires Christ does not yield to threats, does not succumb to the sword. Whence I despise your torments, having put on Christ.
[2] And Lysias said, The clemency of the court of justice is not enough for the good of an Old Man. Wherefore at his command and then with torments vainly driven to the worship of idols, they stripped the Martyr of his cloak, and, stretching him on the ground, beat the holy Old Man with green rods; and then, heavy irons being placed about him, shut him up in prison. But on the next day he is led away to be interrogated. And Lysias says: Tell me, O Old Man, you who have consummated the course of life, and have come to the gates of death, are you persuaded to sacrifice, or do you still persist in the contumacy of your soul? To whom the Martyr: I, strengthened by the faith of Christ, do not sacrifice to demons; but I honor God, who made heaven and earth: who brought forth all things from nothing: to whose providence the things which have been ordained by Him are subject sweetly and in many ways. Then the governor said, This Old Man stands before us not knowing how to bend to our commands. And he ordered that his body, hung by the soles of his feet upon a tree, be cut with swords.
[3] But the Saint, while he was being cut, said: See, Lord, at length he is beheaded, help, and grant patience to Your Athlete, that free from fault I may consummate the course of this contest. But when he was again being compelled to sacrifice, he said: Lord, who from my youth have extinguished the flame of my desires; who have deemed me worthy of the approach of this grace; do not now suffer me to be deceived by Satan. And Lysias ordered a flame of fire to be applied to the cuttings of the swords, that he might inflict on him a heavier torment of pains. And the nefarious man, being confounded in all things, punished him with the sentence of the sword. Having gone out of the city, therefore, they cut off his holy head, and, after they had cast his body to be devoured by dogs and wild beasts, they guarded it, as they had been ordered by the prefect, lest it should be carried off by the Christians, and the Champion be venerated by them as a martyr.
[4] But holy Xanthias and Sapricius, praying and dwelling not far from there (some days afterward, when lightnings, thunders, and dreadful rains had arisen at midnight, and also the guards were fleeing away on account of the signs shown from heaven), and is fittingly buried by the Christians. seized the occasion, and with great fear were able to carry off the sacred body uncorrupted: and with haste carried it away to their own city; and, the Saint being fittingly covered with all diligence, they placed him in the cave which lies at the lowest part of the mountain: and remaining there, they accomplished the contest together with him, and were held worthy to be buried beside him, fulfilling the fair confession before God, and also bearing away the rewards of victory from the Savior, in the place which is called Rhadamnus, about six miles outside the city of Anazarbus: in which the Father is celebrated, the Son is honored, and the most holy Spirit is magnified: to whom be glory and power forever and ever.