Saint Martinian of Caesarea (Athos) Icon - S514

Saint Martinian was from Caesarea of Palestine. When he turned 18, he left his home and lived as a hermit in the wilderness outside the city. For 25 years he lived in silence and mortified his flesh, and reached the spiritual heights.

The devil, hoping to cause Martinian to stumble, caused a prostitute named Zoe to tempt him during a rainstorm. Approaching his shelter, she cried and said she lost her way, and begged to stay the night. In his compassion, the saint allowed her to enter. She then began to seduce him, and as he felt the fire of passion rise in his heart, he stepped into the campfire and stood in its flames. He said, "I will not burn with temptation; I choose rather to burn in this fire, that I may not burn in hell."

Astonished, the prostitute came to her senses. She repented, and Martinian sent her to a convent in Bethlehem. The woman did so, and she entered the monastery as a nun, where she repented of her life and reposed in blessedness 12 years later.

When his flesh healed from the burns, Martinian withdrew to an island. After some years, a woman who survived a shipwreck came ashore and found him. Not wanting to fall into temptation again, Martinian withdrew to the mainland and wandered for the rest of his life, until his repose in Athens in 422. He is commemorated on February 13.