Feb. 13. Ven. Martinian

The Venerable Martinian lived in the 5th century. At the age of eighteen he left the world and withdrew to the desert near Palestinian Caesarea. There, in his young body, carnal passions began to rage fiercely, and demons troubled him with various temptations; but he overcame both enemies through fasting and prayer.

Hearing of the pious life of St. Martinian, a certain dissolute woman declared that there was nothing surprising in his remaining passionless, since he never saw a woman; but she claimed she would seduce him with her beauty. She set out for the hermit and appeared before him in luxurious attire. Then the saint kindled hot coals in the middle of his cell and stood upon them with bare feet. “What is this fire like?” he said to himself; “now consider what the fire of Gehenna will be like for sins!” The woman was struck by such endurance and suffering on the part of the saint; she fell at his feet and with tears begged him to forgive her and pray for her. Martinian sent her to Bethlehem, to the monastery of St. Paula, where she led the strictest life: she ate only bread and water, and that every other day, slept on the ground, and after twelve years of such asceticism she reposed. This was St. Zoya.

Meanwhile, after the conversion of the sinner, Martinian resolved to depart to a more solitary place and sailed to a small uninhabited island in the Mediterranean Sea. There he wove baskets for a certain shipmaster, and the shipmaster brought him bread and water. Then a new temptation came upon the saint. During a storm a ship was wrecked; of those on board, only one young maiden survived on a piece of wreckage and was carried by the waves to the island where Martinian was living. “It is impossible for us to live here together; you stay here—the bread and water will last until the shipmaster comes,” he told the maiden, and he himself threw himself into the sea, preferring to perish in the waters rather than yield to passion for a woman; but God helped him reach the shore. Coming onto dry land, he wandered from city to city, from village to village, giving thanks to God for his deliverance and living on alms. He reposed in Athens. His relics rest in Antioch.

The maiden left on the island devoted herself to fasting and prayer; she did not wish to return to the city when the shipmaster, who had come with bread and water for Martinian, offered to take her with him. She only asked him to bring her men’s clothing and to supply her with food in the same way as he had for Martinian, along with wool for work in payment for the food. In this way she lived there for six years and then reposed. The shipmaster carried her body to Caesarea and told the bishop of her righteous life. The bishop buried the body of the ascetic with honor. This was St. Fotiniya (also called Fotinia or Svetlana in some traditions).

The Venerable Simeon the Myrrh-Streaming was at first the great prince of Serbia. In the world he was called Stefan Neyemanya. He greatly contributed to strengthening the Orthodox faith in his principality, firmly opposing Latinism, the heresy of Arius, and other heresies. Reaching the age of eighty, on the advice of his son, St. Sava (commemorated January 12), he laid aside the rank of prince and received monastic tonsure on Mount Athos. There, together with his son Sava, he founded the Hilandar Monastery. He reposed in the year 1200. His relics stream myrrh, and for this reason he is called the Myrrh-Streamer.

St. Evlogiy was Archbishop of Alexandria and one of the enlightened and active pastors of the 6th century. He fought against the heresy of Eutyches, who incorrectly taught about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, saying that in Him the human nature was absorbed by the divine, and against other false teachings. He governed his flock for twenty-seven years. He reposed in 607, at a great old age.