Martyrs, Festivals of the. These commemo- rations of Christian sufferers for the cause of their Mas- ter are of very ancient date, and may be carried as high as the time of Polycarp, who suffered death about A.D. 168. In the days of Chrysostom and Theodoret these festivals had become so frequent that, so they tell us, oftentimes one or two were celebrated in one and the same week (see Chrj-sostom, Ilom. 40 in Juventinuin, i, 546 ; Theodoret, Serm. 8 de Martyi'ibus, iv, 605 ; Chrj'- sostom, Ho7n. 65 de Martyr, iv, 971). On these occa- sions, as has been intimated in the article Martyrs, the assemblies were not held in the churclies or in the usual places of worship, but at tlie graves of the martyrs. The night preceding the festival was passed in holy vigil, praying and singing psalms and hymns. As they were esteemed high festivals, the same service that was per- formed on the Sabbath was always performed on such occasions. But, besides the usual solemnities of other festivals, the history of the sufferings of the martyrs was also commonly read, and orations were delivered commending their \ irtues, and the audience invited to profit by these self-denying examples. This practice was encouraged by a canon of the thirtl Council of Carthage (" Liceat etiam legi passiones martyrum, cum anniversarii dies eorum celebrantur,"' Con. Carth. 3, can. 47). Mabillon gives several instances to show that they were read also in the French churches. In the Koman Church they were forbidden by jiope Gelasius, as many were said to be anonymous, and others by heathen or
MARUF EL-KARKHI
833
MARY
heretical authors ; but this rule, it seems, did not then prescribe as to other churches. The Lord's Supper was always administered at these festivals, and at the close the rich usually made a feast for the poor, especially to the widows and orphans. — Farrar, Eccles. Diet. s. v. ; Hmghava, Antiquities of the Ch?istian Church, i, God ; Cyclop, of Religious Knowledge, s. v. ; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lex. xii, 777. See Feasts.
Maruf el-Karkhi, Eben-Mahfond, an Arabic mystic, was born at Carkh, between Hamadan and Ispa- han, about the year 750. The son of a Christian, he be- came a Mussulman, under the name of Ali. WhUe at- tached to the house of the imam Ali Kiza, at Bagdad, where he discharged the duties of a door-keeper, he formed a firm frientlship with one of the most ancient mystic chiefs, Daud el-Thayi, and became himself one of the most celebrated mystics of Arabia. He died in 81G, at Bagdad. The mystical sj-stera of Mariif is nei- ther the ascetic system of the ancient Indian and Chris- tian Ccsnobites, which he rejected, nor that of the more recent Persian m}'Stics, who are entirely absorbed in con- templations of divine love. He lays stress on the prac- tical virtues ; and if he preaches humUity in saj'ing that we should never appear before God except with the ex- terior of a poor piendicant, he still is not led astray in his retiections upon divine love, which, according to him, is a gift of God's grace, and not learned by the lessons of masters. Maruf, it is true, elsewhere carries out his thoughts, by sayuig that we must turn to God if we ex- pect God's favor upon us. These ideas have caused him to be regarded as one of the orthodox mystics of Islam. His maxims are found dispersed throughout the ascetic works of Abiilfaray Mansur ibn al-Yanzi, especially in the 31 anahhih- Maruf or Panegyrics of Maruf, and in the Kenzel Modzakkirin, or Treasure of the Deistical Paneg3'rists. In the Monutekhah fl Kowle is found tlie most complete selection of Marufs utterances. — Hadj'l Chalfa, Lexikon Bibliographicum et Encyclopcedicnm ; Djami, Biographie des Soufis ; Hammer, Gesch. der A ra- bischen Literatur ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, vol. xxxili, s. V.
Marut or Marut (Sanscrit tvind) denotes in the Hindii mythology the genus or divinities presiding over the winds. In the Vedas the Maruts are often addressed as the attendants and allies of Indra, and are called the sons of Prisni (or Pricni), or the Earth ; they are also called Rhudras, or the sons of Rhudra. See the Intro- ductions to the several volumes of professor Wilson's translation of the Rig Veda ; see also Moor, Iliiulu Pan- theon, s. V. ; Thomas, Diet, of Biog. and Mythol. s. v.
Maruthas, one of the most important men in the Syrian Church of the 4th and 5th centuries, was bishop of Tagrit, in Mesopotamia, called also b}- the Syrians Maipherkin, Maipherkat, and Medinat Sohde, i. e. city of the martyrs. He took an active part in the manage- ment of Church affairs, and is also known as a writer. So great, indeed, was the consideration he enjoyed at the hands of his contemporaries that he was popularly credited with power to work miracles. In 403 he made a journey to Constantinople, as agent in the negotia- tions between the emperors Arcadius and Theodosius II and tlie Persian emperor Yczdegerd II, who was per- secuting the Christians, and in these negotiations he gained the esteem and confidence of the Persian empe- ror. He was enabled by his sagacity to defeat the in- trigues of the Magians to effect his downfall, and his reputation only rose higher, so that he obtained permis- sion for the Christians to rebuild their churches, and to hold their meetings for divine worship. The next year he went again to Constantinople to ]3lead the cause of Chrysostom, who was exiled. He was subsequently sent again by Theodosius II to Yczdegerd. He is said on this occasion to have taken part in a synod assem- bled by patriarch Isaac of Seleucia Ctesiphon, but He- fele {Conciliengesch. ii, 90) has proved that the docu- ments we possess concerning this council are spurious,