Martyr
Martyr Marinus of Anazarbus (of Tarsus)
† ок. 304-305
Martyr Marinus of Anazarbus — an elderly Christian from Anazarbus in Cilicia, brought to trial before the governor Lysias at Tarsus during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, who refused to sacrifice to idols, was subjected to cruel torture, and was beheaded; he was secretly buried by two Christians near Anazarbus.
Martyr Marinus was an elderly Christian from the city of Anazarbus in Cilicia (Asia Minor). Brought to trial before the governor of Cilicia, Lysias (in some sources, Aristobulus), at Tarsus, he firmly confessed Christ and refused to sacrifice to the pagan idols.
He was subjected to cruel torment: scourged with fresh rods, chained and imprisoned, hung from a tree the next day, cut with swords and burned with fire — and finally beheaded.
Two pious men, Xanthius and Sapricius, secretly took his body and buried it at a place called Radamn, six versts from Anazarbus. The martyr's relics, according to tradition, were rediscovered around 529 (a mention survives in John Malalas's Chronicle).
His feast is kept on October 18/31.
IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE IMAGES: the entry's former image caption claimed that the fresco (Gračanica, Kosovo, c. 1318) depicts entirely different saints — Martyrs Mamelchtha, Charitina, and the Apostle Thomas (all three commemorated October 5-6, 13 days apart from Marinus's own date). Direct inspection shows the images' own inscriptions read "St. Apostle Luke" and "St. Marin" — matching neither the original caption nor unambiguously the actual Martyr Marinus of Anazarbus (the pairing with the Apostle Luke is unexplained). Given this discrepancy, both images are marked as suspicious and not used as confirmed iconography.