Holy Martyrs Marinus, Martha, Audifax, Abachum, Quirinus, Valentine the Presbyter, Asterius and Many Others, Martyred in Rome (+269)

The holy Martyrs Marinus, Martha, Audifax, Abachum, Quirinus, Valentine the Presbyter, Asterius and many others, martyred in Rome. In the reign of the Emperor Claudius II (268–270) Saint Marinus, with his wife Martha and his sons Audifax and Abachum, went from Persia to Rome to venerate the tombs of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul. At that time a cruel persecution of the Christians began in Rome: the faithful were imprisoned, tortured, put to death… Marinus with his wife and children took upon themselves the service of the imprisoned Christians and the burial of the bodies of the holy martyrs. When two hundred and sixty Christians who had been sent to dig earth by the Via Salaria were killed, among them the tribune Blastus, the saints’ family, together with the presbyter John, secretly carried the martyrs’ bodies by night to the catacombs and buried them with honour. On their way back to the prison they learned that the day before the prisoner Quirinus had been put to death, whom they had served with love because of the many kinds of torment he had endured for Christ. The blessed strugglers sought out his body and committed it to the earth. After this Marinus, Martha and her sons hid from their pursuers, but the Lord willed to make His God-pleasers shine with a martyr’s end. The pagans beheaded the valiant confessor of Christ, the wonderworking presbyter Valentine, and the noble courtier Asterius. The Persian strugglers who had taken refuge with them, Marinus, Audifax and Abachum, were also put to death. Saint Martha was drowned in a river (+269).