ON THE HOLY MARTYRS MARTHA AND MARIA, VIRGINS, AND LYCARION, OR BYCARION, A BOY.
Commentary.
Martha, Virgin, Martyr (St.) Maria, Virgin, Martyr (St.) Lycarion, or Bycacarion, a boy; Martyr (St.)
By I. B.
[1] These women imitated the evangelical sisters Martha and Mary both in the similarity of their names and in the ardor of their piety. They were born in a place and time when impiety was raging against the worshippers of the most holy religion; but of what condition and birth they were, from what nation, or under which ruler they lived, is unknown—although Lahierius writes in his Menology of Virgins, on what authority or argument I know not, that they lived in Asia. Their martyrdom is briefly expressed from the Greek records by Galesinius under 8 February: "On the same day, the holy Martyrs Martha and Maria, blood sisters, who, illustrious for their piety and virginity, when they could in no way be led by the Governor to worship the images of idols, were by his order crucified by soldiers and pierced through with swords, thus winning a double palm."
[2] The Menaea recount it somewhat more fully:
"As one womb brought Martha and Mary into the light, so one sword deprives them of the light. Without a word goes Lycarion to the sword, like a lamb that stands before its shearer."
These holy sisters cultivated virginity in seclusion. When the Governor of the province was passing through the place where they were dwelling, they looked out through the window and professed themselves to be Christians. When the Governor pitied the untimely death of the young women, they declared in response that the death endured for Christ is not death, but rather life without end. And when the boy Lycarion, their ward, proclaimed the same, they were crucified by the Governor's order and cut down with the sword by the lictors, and surrendered their souls into the hands of the Lord. Maximus, Bishop of Cythera, has the same account, but in his version the name is Bycarion, as it is in the title of the Menaea, while the text has Lycarion.