Martyr Macrobius of Tomi (Küstendzhe)

Martyrs Macrobius and Gordian were officials attached to the imperial court (Gordian a native of Cappadocia, Macrobius of Paphlagonia), enjoying the emperor's favor. For firmly confessing Christ under Emperor Licinius (r. 307-324), they were exiled to the region of Scythia Minor. There, in the city of Tomi, under the local governor Maximus, both were tortured and beheaded by the sword, suffering first among six confessors.

At Tomi, Macrobius and Gordian met other prisoners for the faith — Zoticus, Lucian, and Elijah, who, together with Valerian who later joined them, were also subsequently tortured and beheaded there. Valerian, bitterly mourning his companions' deaths at their tomb, died of grief on the very spot of their burial.

The feast is kept on September 13/26.

IMPORTANT NAME CORRECTION: the entry's original name "Markoviy" is a corrupted rendering of the genuine name "Macrobius" (Makroviy), as correctly given in the image's own caption ("Zoticus, Lucian, Elijah, Macrobius and Gordian, Valerian"). The toponym "of Tomsk (Küstendzhiysky)" is not Tomsk in Siberia, but the ancient city of Tomi in Scythia Minor, called Küstendzhe in the Ottoman era, now Constanța in Romania; this same double toponymic naming is consistently used in the related entries for the companion martyrs (Zoticus, Lucian, Elijah, Valerian).