Saint Martin the Merciful, Bishop of Tours (†c. 400) — October 12 / October 25 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, October 12 according to the Julian Calendar (October 25 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Martin the Merciful, Bishop of Tours.

Saint Martin the Merciful, Bishop of Tours, was born in the city of Sabaria in Pannonia. Before receiving monastic tonsure, he served as a military commander in the army of the Emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363). When barbarians attacked the empire, he set out from the city with his detachment to fight them; on the way he met a beggar, took pity on him, and gave him his own garment. That night the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Martin and promised him victory over the enemy.

The emperor met the victor with great celebration and proposed that he offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the idols. But Martin answered: “I wish to offer sacrifice to Christ, through whose help I gained the victory, and to become a monk.”

The holy father took up the arduous labors of monastic life, and several years later, eight versts from Poitiers, he founded the monastery of Ligugé, which soon became a center of monasticism in France. Because of his holy life, Martin was consecrated Bishop of Tours (in France) against his own will. The blessed hierarch gave everyone an example of humility, patience and meekness. He chose a remote and uninhabited place for his ascetic labors, where he founded a monastery (later the renowned monastery of Marmoutier). He traveled through the neighboring lands, preaching Orthodoxy and confirming his teaching with miracles.

Together with all this, the blessed father was wondrously merciful. For his love and charity he was called “the Merciful.” Endowed with the gifts of wonderworking and prophecy, the hierarch reposed in peace around the year 400, at the age of eighty. He foresaw the day of his own death. Many miracles took place at the relics of the venerable father.