(ABOUT 300.)
[Commemorated by the Greeks with special solemnity on this day.
Authority:--A Life written by a contemporary. Anciently, S. Martian
was venerated at Constantinople in the Church of S. Peter, with
great honour, probably because his relics reposed there.]
Martian was a native of Cæsarea in Palestine. At the age of eighteen
he retired to a mountain near that city, where he lived for
twenty-five years among many holy solitaries in the practice of all
virtues. A courtesan of Cæsarea, called Zoe, having heard of his
sanctity, moved by an evil spirit, resolved to endeavour to lead him
into sin. One stormy night she presented herself at his door, and
cried to be admitted. "Have pity on me!" she pleaded, "I fear the wild
beasts, I have lost my way!" Then he admitted her, and when she used
all her efforts to fascinate him, and he felt his heart rebel against
the law of God, by a sudden act of resolution, he thrust his legs into
the fire, crying, "O Martian! how feels this fire to thee now? Yet it
is not comparable to that which the devil kindles to consume the
sinner."
The woman, horror-struck at his proceeding, was filled with shame at
her wicked purpose and manner of life. She burst into tears, and
entreated the holy man to give her a rule whereby she might conform
her life to the will of God. Then he sent her to S. Paula,[41] who
governed a convent at Bethlehem, who received her; and Zoe became a
model of penitence, eating only once a day, and sometimes spending two
days without food; sleeping on the bare ground, and ever bewailing
with many tears her former wicked life.
Martian, after his legs were healed, resolved to escape to some place
where he could not be tempted so readily. He therefore found a rock at
some little distance from the shore, in the sea, and in that was a
cave. Martian spent six years in this solitude, deprived of all human
consolations, but full of joy in being separated from all creatures
who might draw his heart from God. After the lapse of six years, one
stormy day a vessel was wrecked near his islet, and a girl, who was
one of the passengers, managed to save herself upon the rock of
Martian. The hermit was placed in a sore predicament; he had no wish
for the society of a young damsel in his place of retreat, and yet he
had no power to drive her from her refuge. He therefore said to her,
"My daughter, we must not both live here together. In two months a
ship will touch on this island to bring me what is needful for my
support. Till then there is bread and water in my cave. Take it, and
live here; when the ship arrives, tell the captain how you came here,
and he will take you on board and convey you to the main land." Then
he flung himself into the sea and swam ashore. For two years he
wandered without finding a home, but at last died at Athens. The girl
left on the island, had, in the meantime, become attached to the
solitary life, and when the boat arrived, she besought the ship-master
to give her a warm dress, some wool to spin, and bread and water. The
captain readily promised to do as she required, and returned shortly
after with his wife, bringing her all she needed; and from that day he
came to the island every three months, bringing her what she needed,
during the six years she lived there.