The Life of St Marina

Even though they refused to accept the Messiah, pagans of the third century realized that Christianity added a certain wholesomeness to its adherents, particularly to Christian girls whose purity gave added dimension to their beauty and stirred passions within the hearts of pagans who saw no such chastity in their own women. While all accounts in church biographies follow a similar pattern, the ones who gave their lives to Christ should be honored not just with a feast day but with a biographical sketch as well, for the simple reason that they were true heroines, small in number when compared to the unnamed and unnumbered Christian girls who submitted, rather than face agony and horror. This is not to demean the latter for having human frailty, for it is doubtful that any girl so coerced really denied Christ in her heart once he was there.

Numbered among the lovelies who made the supreme sacrifice was a girl named Marina who was born in Antioch during the reign of Emperor Claudius II (A.D. 270), an era in which Christianity was gaining, but nevertheless faced a relentless enemy in the polytheists, who still abounded after centuries of idolatry. When her mother died giving birth to her, her pagan priest father, Edesios, had no choice but to entrust the newborn child to another woman and to go about his affairs, unaware of the fact that the foster mother was a Christian. When Marina reached maturity she had learned to love Jesus Christ with all her heart and had no fear when at last she told Edesios, who had never been much of a father to her anyway and whose resentment she could endure. Knowing the depth of the Christian faith, the father made no effort to dissuade her but simply took the news with contempt and walked away talking to one of his gods.

Left to her own devices, Marina carried on her affairs with her devout mother, affairs which included regular church attendance. It was while walking to church that the eighteen-year-old girl was spotted by no less a personage than the prefect of the province, Olymbrios. Unfortunately for Marina, it was a case of love at first sight. He made himself known to her and thereafter called on her with a view to making her his wife, even though he knew that she had no love for him.

Out of respect for his office as well as out of common courtesy, Marina entertained the suitor in a pleasant manner, taking care not to offend him with an abrupt rejection, but this discretion only served to delay the inevitable, and the days grew more and more ominous with the realization that he would soon enough propose and she would have to deny him. When at last he asked for her hand, she declined as politely as possible, explaining that she had pledged her life to Jesus Christ and was waiting for the moment when she could enter his service in some manner. The explanation was in no way discouraging and Marina was asked to reconsider his proposal, for which he was willing to give her a little more time. He held out the promise of a life of ease as the bride of the prefect, which he hoped would sway her after some deliberation.

When the prefect returned after a couple of days, Marina’s answer was the same. When it was evident to him that she was not about to alter her thinking, the love that the prefect had professed was transformed into hate. He shouted that if he could not have her he would see to it that no one else would, and, furthermore, that she would pay for having insulted him with a rejection. Marina wished it could have been otherwise, but there was nothing she could do but wait and hope that the prefect would find it in his heart to forgive her and leave her alone. She realized that this was wishful thinking, and the hours wore painfully on as she waited for the dreaded tap on the door.

The tap on the door came at last and Marina was led away to be tried on charges of treason, among other things, for which she was found guilty and sentenced in methodical fashion after having heard herself branded a traitor by sycophants of the prefect. What took place thereafter is said to have been as vicious an assault on the human body as a fiendish mind could devise. Marina was stripped naked, whipped and burned with candles, allowed to heal and then tortured again in the same fashion over an agonizing period until she was finally beheaded. Death came to this devout girl on 17 July 289.