Service in the Church of Constantinople
According to the sources, Marcian served as a reader and singer of Holy Scripture while Martyrius held the office of subdeacon in the church of Constantinople. Both functioned as notaries, or secretaries, to Saint Paul the Confessor, the Orthodox bishop of the city, and they lived in his house.
Paul's episcopate fell within the prolonged Arian controversy under the emperor Constantius II. During Paul's second exile, Arian bishops had consecrated Macedonius as a rival claimant to the see. After Paul was finally removed and, according to the tradition, secretly put to death, his position passed to Macedonius, and the Arian party turned its attention to his former notaries.
Martyrdom
The synaxarion relates that the Arians first attempted to win the two saints over with inducements, offering them gold and the promise of consecration as archbishops if they would comply. When flattery failed, the authorities threatened to slander them before the emperor and sought to intimidate them with torture and the prospect of death. Marcian and Martyrius refused to abandon the Orthodox teaching and were sentenced accordingly.
The historian Sozomen records that Macedonius delivered them to the governor, accusing them of involvement in the killing of the imperial general Hermogenes, who had died at the hands of the Constantinople populace during Paul's second exile, and of inciting sedition. Both saints were executed by decapitation, an event traditionally dated to about 355 under Constantius II. The liturgical tradition remembers them as having been murdered by the heretics. Their bodies were buried by Orthodox Christians.
Relics & Shrines
The saints' relics were enshrined in a house of prayer at Constantinople. Sozomen records that this church was begun by John and completed by Sisinnius, both of whom later became bishops of the city; the Orthodox tradition holds that Saint John Chrysostom ordered the transfer of the relics to a dedicated church.
Miracles & Traditions
Historically Documented: Sozomen reports that the place where the two were beheaded was regarded as purified, that those afflicted by demons were released there, and that many other notable miracles were associated with the site.
Traditional Accounts: The Orthodox synaxarion relates that after the relics were placed in their church, believers were healed of many infirmities through the prayers of the saints.
Historical Context
The martyrdom belongs to the period in which the Arian party, supported by Constantius II, consolidated its control of the see of Constantinople. Saint Paul the Confessor, the sixth bishop of the city, had been deeply involved in the dispute; during his second exile the Arians installed Macedonius as a rival bishop, and after Constantius permanently expelled Paul, the bishop was taken to Cucusus in Cappadocia, where, according to the tradition, he was strangled by adherents of Macedonius.
The execution of Marcian and Martyrius in about 355 fell several years after Paul's death, as the same Arian-dominated regime moved against those who had served the deposed Orthodox bishop and continued to resist Macedonius.
