RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Martyn Maruthas
iii.), and Cyprian prescribes the special observances to be practised (Epist., xii. 2, xxxix. 3).
When, with the proclamation of Christianity as the State religion, martyrdom became a thing of the past, and at the same time the influence of pagan superstition was felt in the Church, the honor paid to the martyrs increased greatly. Prudentius and Fortunatus celebrated their deeds in verse; altars were erected over their places of sepulture, and great confidence was placed in their intercession with God — though even now a Jovinian was found to protest against exaggerated devotion to them and a Vigilantius to oppose the veneration of their relics (Jerome, Adversus Jovinianum, II., xx.; Adversus Vigilantium, i.).
Martyrs were not lacking, however, in the later ages of the Church. In Persia, Armenia, Arabia, and elsewhere the Christians were the objects of pagan persecution shortly after Constantine's conversion, and later in other parts of the world they suffered at the hands of the Arian Germans and of the followers of Mohammed, while the dominant Church learned to apply the same treatment to heretics. The Donatists had already used this as a proof that the Catholic was not the true Church. The persecuting spirit pervades the Middle Ages and marks with blood the story of the Waldenses, the strict Franciscans, the Apostolic Brethren, the Lollards, and the disciples of the martyred Huss. After the Reformation Luther soon had occasion to write hymns in celebration of its martyrs, and the Anabaptists have left us a number of theirs to attest the joy with which they endured persecution. The Reformed Church of France was a martyr-church. In the mission fields, especially in Japan and China, many Christians of the Roman obedience sealed their testimony with their blood; and on the Evangelical side the blood of the martyrs has proved, in Tertullian's phrase, " the seed of the Church " in Madagascar and more recently in Uganda, China, and elsewhere. The Evangelical church canonizes no martyrs, and believes it to be as great a thing to live for Christ as to die for him; but it, too, cherishes the examples of those who have been, in the literal sense, " faithful unto death." (N. Bonwetsch.)
Bibliography: Quite adequate literature is given under Acta Martyrum, Acta Sanctorum; Saints, and the Veneration of Saints. The customs and early literature are well indicated in Bingham, Origines, XIII., iii. 2-3, ix. 5, XIV., iii. 14, XVI., iii. 4, XVIII., iv. 10, XX., vii. Consult further: Analecta Bollandiana, Paris, Brussels, and Geneva, 1882 sqq.; Gass, in ZHT, 1859; H. Delehaye, L' Amphitheatre Flavien et ses environs dans les textes hagiographiques, Brussels, 1897; E. Ame'lineau, Les Actes des martyres de Veglise copte, Paris, 1900; H. Achelis, in Abhandlungen derGbttinger Gesellschaft, 1900; F.Kattenbusch, in ZNTW, iv (1903), 111 sqq.; F. Augar, in TV, xxviii (1905); A. Linsenmayer, Die Bekampfung des Christentums durch den rbmischen Staat, Munich, 1905.
MARTYRS, THE FORTY: Forty soldiers who suffered martyrdom at Sebaste (the modern Sivas, 165 m. s.w. of Trebizond) in the beginning of the Licinian persecution, probably in 320. Remaining true to their faith, as is stated by Basil the Great, Ephraem, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gaudentius of Brescia, they were exposed naked on the ice throughout a night in the coldest winter. All froze to death
except one who recanted, and he died from a warm bath given him to counteract the effects of his exposure. When the pagan guard learned of this, he became a convert to Christianity, and suffered martyrdom by freezing, thus completing the number forty. The corpses were burned and the ashes thrown into the water. The later Acta (ASB., Mar., ii. 19-21) records the names of the forty martyrs and gives the details of their sufferings with many embellishments, but the essential portion of the account, including the names, is undoubtedly historically true. Their day is appointed for Mar. 9 or 10. (O. ZocKLERf.)
MARUTHAS, ma-ru'thas: The name of two bishops. 1. Bishop of Maipherkat; d. about 420. Maruthas was sent twice by the Emperor Theodosius II. as ambassador to Jezdegerd I. Ebedjesu mentions among his works a book on martyrdoms, church poetry, and a translation of the canons of Nicaea (on which cf. Synodicon Orientale, ed. J. B. Chabot, Paris, 1903, p. 259) and has his name among the members of that synod. The " Martyrs' Anthem " has been translated by Maclean (East Syrian Daily Offices, London, 1894, pp. 12-23). His most important work, if it be his, is the " History of the Persian Martyrs " under Sapor II., Jezdegerd I., and perhaps Behnam V., 341-379 a.d. (ed. S. E. Assemani, Acta Sanctorum Martyrum, Rome, 1748; and by P. Bedjan, Ada Martyrum et Sanctorum, ii., Paris, 1891, 57-396, Germ, transl. P. P. Zingerle, Monumenta Syriaca, vol. i., Innsbruck, 1836). Kmosko doubts whether the work is his; he ascribes to him only the Greek translation, which was used already by Sozomen (Hist, eccl., II., ix.-xiii.; Eng. transl., NPNF, 2 ser., ii. 264-267) for the lives of Simeon bar Sabae, Pusai (Pusices), Tarbula and Akebsima (Acepsimas). There are also ascribed to him the " Acts of the Council of Seleucia " of the year 410 (ed. J. Lamy, Louvain, 1868). His commemoration is on the sixth Friday of Moses. His brother Julian is said to have surrounded with a wall the cloister of Mar Babai on Mount Izla, which contained one thousand monks. E. Nestle.
Bibliography: Sources are Socrates, Hist, eccl., vi. 15, vii. 8, Eng. transl., NPNF, 2 ser., ii. 148-149, 156-157; Sozomen, Hist, eccl., viii. 16, Eng. transl., NPNF, 2 ser., ii. 409; Bar Hebrams, Chronicon, ii. 45. Consult: J. S. Assemani, Bibliotheca orientalis, ii. 45, 3 vols., Rome, 1719- 1728; W. Wright, Short Hist, of Syriac Literature, p. 44, London, 1894; R. Duval, La Litterature syriaque, Paris, 1899, 2d ed., pp. 132-133, 428; A. Harnack, in TV, ::ix., part 2, 1899.
2. Bishop of Takrit; d. 649. He is not to be confounded with Maruthas of Maipherkat (ut sup.). He was born in the diocese of Beth Nuhadre, Persia, studied for some time at Edessa, became bishop of Takrit and the first maphrian, or primate, of the Jacobites (see Jacobites). His life has been written by his successor Dencha. He composed a liturgy (in the Missale of the Maronites, Rome, 1594, p. 172; E. Renaudot, Liturgiarum Orientalium collectio, ii., Paris, 1716, 261); a commentary on the Gospels (two extracts in G. Mosinger, Monumenta Syriaca, ii., Innsbruck, 1878, 32), homilies and hymns. E. Nestle.
Bibliography: Consult the literature under 1, noting in Wright, p. 137, and in Duval, p. 374.
Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG