(ABOUT 476.)
[Honoured in the Greek Menaea and Roman Martyrology on the same day.
His life, by an anonymous writer, is given by Simeon Metaphrastes.]
S. Marcian was born at Constantinople; he belonged to a noble Roman
family, related to that of the Emperor Theodosius. From his childhood he
served God in watching, fasting, and prayer. His great compassion for
the necessities of the poor made it impossible for him to refuse relief,
when he had anything to give away.
In the reign of the Emperor Marcian, Anatolius, the Archbishop, ordained
him priest. His love for the poor manifested itself, not merely in
abundant almsgiving, but also in his making their instruction in the
truth his favourite pursuit. The severity of his morals was made a
handle by those who feared the example of his virtue, as a tacit rebuke
of their sloth and avarice, to fasten on him a suspicion of Novatianism;
but his meekness and silence triumphed over this, and other slanders.
The patriarch Gennadius conferred on him the dignity of treasurer of the
church of Constantinople. S. Marcian built, or repaired, in a stately
manner a great number of churches. The following incident is related of
the dedication of the church of S. Anastasia, for which he had obtained
a site, and which he had built in spite of numerous impediments. On the
day that the church was to be consecrated, he was on his way to attend
the ceremony, when he was accosted in the street by a very poor man,
whose rags scarce held together, and who implored him, for the love of
God, to give him an alms. S. Marcian felt in his bosom, but found he had
no money there. The pauper would take no refusal, and the compassionate
heart of the treasurer was melted at the aspect of his tatters and
emaciation. Quickly he slipped off the tunic he wore under his
sacerdotal vestments, handed it to the beggar, and then hurried on to
the new church, drawing his alb and chasuble about him, to conceal the
deficiency of a nether garment. The church was crowded, the Emperor Leo
and the Empress, the senate, and almost the whole city were present.
Marcian was bidden celebrate the Holy Sacrifice before all, in the new
church he had built. So, full of shame, he began, hoping that the folds
of his chasuble would conceal the absence of a tunic. But all saw him as
though clothed beneath his sacerdotal vestments with a garment as of
pure gold, which flashed as he moved. The patriarch Gennadius was
offended, and rebuked him when the liturgy was over, for having worn a
private garment, more splendid than his ecclesiastical vesture, and
worthy only of an emperor. Marcian fell at his feet, and denied that he
had worn any such raiment. Then Gennadius, wroth at his having spoken
falsely, as he thought, for he supposed his eyes could not have been
deceived, caught him by the vesture, and drew it aside, and behold!
Marcian was bare of all other garments save his sacerdotal apparel.
S. Marcian built also the church of S. Irene, another of S. Isidore,
and a baptistery of magnificent appearance, surrounded with five
porches, like that at Jerusalem. "But this one," says the chronicler,
"was greater than that by the sheep market, for here greater miracles
were wrought than there. To that, an angel descended on one day in the
year, and healed but one at a time; at this, whenever a servant of the
Lord ministers, Christ himself is present. The healing, moreover, is not
but once a year, but daily, and not of bodies only, but of souls as
well."
S. Marcian's great compassion extended to women of bad character, and
despising the slander and gossip which he might occasion, by visiting
them in their houses, setting only before his eyes the blessedness of
plucking these brands from the burning, he often sought them out in
haunts of crime; and if they had taken up evil courses through poverty
only, he found for them honest occupations, and by his exhortations and
tears, and his overflowing charity, he convinced and persuaded many of
these unhappy women, so that they came openly and did penance, and some
he sent on pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and some went into solitude, and
recompensed for the past by self-mortification in the desert.