Venerable Martinianus

Life

Glorious and most wondrous is the life of this saint, and it is worth reading in its entirety. What all did he not endure just to fulfill the Lord's commandments! In his eighteenth year he withdrew to a mountain, called Kovčežna, in Cappadocia, and there spent twenty-five years in fasting, vigil, prayer, and struggle with many temptations. When a woman came to tempt him, and he saw that he would fall into sin with her, he jumped barefoot into fire and stood in the fire until pain drove tears to his eyes and killed in him every lust. When other temptations arose, he fled to a certain solitary rock in the sea, and lived there. But when, during a certain shipwreck, a woman also swam to that rock, he jumped into the sea to drown himself, but by God's Providence a dolphin caught him on its back and brought him to shore. Then he resolved no longer to settle anywhere permanently, but to travel unceasingly. And thus in two years he passed through 164 cities, correcting and counseling people. Finally he reached Athens where he died in the year 422.