Martyr Quadratus and Companions at Corinth

Quadratus (also rendered Codratus) was a third-century martyr of Corinth, commemorated together with his companions on March 10. According to the synaxarion, he was born during a time of persecution to a Christian mother who had fled the city for the mountains, and after her death he was raised in the wilderness. He later became a physician and, with a small circle of fellow Christians, was arrested and put to death under the persecution of the emperor Decius (249–251).

The tradition surrounding his infancy is recounted with overtly miraculous detail: his mother, named Rufina in the sources, fled Corinth during persecution, gave birth to him in the mountains, and died soon afterward, leaving the infant to be sustained—so the account relates—by a sweet dew that fell into his mouth from a cloud. Growing to maturity, Quadratus studied grammar and medicine and was reckoned successful in the physician's art, while spending much of his time in solitude devoted to prayer.

Around him gathered a group of fellow Christians who came to him for instruction; the sources name them as Cyprian, Dionysius, Anectus, Paul, and Crescens, with some lists adding a second Dionysius. When the prefect Jason was sent to Corinth to compel Christians to apostatize, Quadratus—described as the eldest—spoke on behalf of the group and refused to deny the faith. The synaxarion relates that, when none of them could be persuaded to renounce Christ, they were bound to chariots and dragged through the city as the crowd hurled stones, and were finally beheaded by the sword.