Martyrs Mark and Mocius

Mark and Mocius are two early Christian martyrs commemorated together by the Orthodox Church on July 3. According to the synaxarion, they were arrested as Christians and brought to trial before the governor Maximian, who demanded that they offer sacrifice to idols.

When the two refused to renounce Christ and sacrifice to the idols, they were put to death by beheading. Their martyrdom is placed in the fourth century, during the era of the late Roman persecutions.

Almost nothing further is recorded of them. The surviving account preserves no region of origin, no details of their backgrounds or personal circumstances, and no record of relics or shrines; they remain among the many obscure early martyrs known chiefly by name, feast, and the manner of their confession.