Venerable Marcian of Cyrrhus

Life

Marcian was from the city of Cyrrhus in Syria. He was distinguished both by nobility of birth and by beauty of body. He left all for Christ's sake and withdrew to the desert of Chalcis for the ascetic struggle as a hermit. He was a contemporary of Patriarch Flavian of Antioch and of the emperors Constantius and Valens. In his cell at night a divine light shone, by which he read Holy Scripture, and he never had need of any other light. He was a great wonderworker both during his life and after his death. Before his death he commanded his disciple Eusebius to hide his body and bury it secretly, because of his many admirers. He reposed in the Lord in the year 387.