Feast Day ~ November 12
Many of the saints of the Church have been martyrs for the faith. They have sacrificed their lives rather than deny Christ or compromise the teachings of the Church which have been revealed by God. Most of these saints became martyrs during Christianity’s early years when the prevailing culture was threatened by the radical nature of Christian belief and actions and rulers ordered that those of this new faith be persecuted and executed. Christian “failure” in the eyes of the world became triumph for the faith and Christianity rapidly spread throughout the world.
We would not expect that Christian saints had become martyrs through the actions of other Christians but this is exactly what happened in the 7th century to a Patriarch of Rome, St. Martin I. Umbrian by birth, Martin devoted his life to service in the Church. He was respected for his learning and his virtuous living. For some time, he served as the Papal legate (“apocrisiarius”) to Constantinople where deviations from the teachings of the Church were being promoted by some in positions of authority.
Questions regarding the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ had been discussed, debated, and decided by Ecumenical Councils beginning with the first meeting in Nicaea in 325 when it was declared that Christ was both human and divine. Further debates through the next several centuries attempted to define how Christ’s will (or wills) and energy (or energies) fit with his two natures in one person. The Council of Calcedon (451) which determined that Christ had two wills, divine and human, resulted in a schism between the majority of the Church and those who believed that Christ had only one will (now called the “Oriental” Orthodox churches: Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian).
Debates about Christ and heresies which deviated from the decisions of the Church continued for several centuries, bringing dissension and unrest throughout the Empire. Emperors weighed in on decisions of Church hierarchs and the Church in the East and the West were at times out of communion with each other over these issues.
Emperor Heraclius was battling conflicts on all sides of the Empire. These religious disputes resulted in unrest in Syria, Egypt, Armenia, in addition to the threats from outside the Empire that he faced. He and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Sergius, attempted to come up with a compromise that all could accept. They issued a proclamation, called the Echthesis, in 638 which was monothelite, proclaiming Christ’s one will, but with vague wording which they hoped would be acceptable by all. They were successful in convincing many that Christ had one will, but there was always an objection from someone such as the Palestinian monk Sophronius, who later became Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Constans II, Heraclius’ grandson, became Emperor after his grandfather’s death in 641. He was 17 years old and not at all interested in what he considered to be “nit-picking” arguments over the natures and wills and energies of Jesus Christ. All he wanted was for the Empire to be unified and at peace. So he issued an edict, the Type of Constans, which forbade any discussion of these issues by anyone. Of course, this only made matters worse.
Pope Theodore I of Rome called for a council to respond to this edict but he died before it could be convened. Martin became his successor in July of 649 and he immediately summoned the Lateran Council. 105 bishops from Italy, Sardinia, Sicily and Africa attended and roundly condemned both the Echthesis and the Type of Constans as heretical. As a result, Emperor Constans (with the support of Paul, the successor to Sergius as Patriarch of Constantinople) ordered his exarch in Ravenna to arrest the pope and bring him to Constantinople.
By the providence of God, there were many delays in accomplishing this arrest. The first general who was sent to arrest the Pope sent one of his soldiers into the church to kill Martin rather than arrest him and that soldier was struck blind as he entered the church. Then the Saracens attacked Sicily and the general was called to war where he died. But in June of 653, Pope Martin was arrested, along with Maximus the Confessor, who was also an outspoken critic of the proposed heresy.
In September, the pope arrived in Constantinople, where he was accused of heresy and thrown into prison, fed very little, and suffered many hardships and much illness. Pope Martin wrote letters (still extant) during this time which reveal how terrible his treatment was. He wrote that any provisions which were sent to him were confiscated by the guards, leaving him with only scraps of unsavory food to eat. In one letter, he said that “It is now 47 days since I have been permitted to wash myself in either cold or warm water.” After two years, he was exiled to Cherson (in modern-day Ukraine) where he died from his ill treatment. It is said that, when the heretical Patriarch Paul was on his deathbed, he confessed his great sin against Pope Martin and begged for forgiveness.
Just as the early martyrs of the Church gave their lives in defense of Jesus Christ, so St. Martin sacrificed his life rather than compromise the teachings of the Church regarding the person of Christ. We pray that the Church’s hierarchs will never again be willing to compromise the faith and persecute others for the sake of political “unity” and “peace”. And we ask for the prayers of St. Martin that we may be steadfast in our defense of the faith. Holy Martin, pray for us.