Isaac and Martin

The Holy Martyrs Isaac and Martin

Martyr

Isaac and Martin were martyrs known only from the brief notice of the Greek synaxarion for September 22, which transmits their names and their martyrdom and nothing more: neither place, nor year, nor persecutor. The verses appointed over them witness that Martin died by the sword: "With Christ breathing courage into him from on high, Martin hastened to breathe out his life against the blade." Their memory is kept on September 22, the day of the hieromartyr Phocas.

The synaxarion of Constantinople sets down for this day "the memory of the holy martyr Isaac, and of Saint Martin," with a single pair of verses that name only Martin and his death by the sword. Nothing else has come down: no place, no date, no account of their contest, nor even a clear statement of whether the two suffered together or are merely joined in the calendar's memory. The era of their martyrdom being untransmitted, this entry asserts none. They are absent from the OCA calendar and from the Russian calendar of the day (verified live in 2026), surviving in the Greek synaxarion tradition alone.

Feast and commemoration

September 22 (church date; Old Calendar civil October 5), in the Greek synaxarion of the day of the hieromartyr Phocas. The OCA and Russian calendars do not list them — a jurisdictional difference recorded here. No proper service or hymns are transmitted.

Iconography

No image of these martyrs is known; a the list of icons still being sought listing stands in their place. They would be depicted as two martyrs bearing crosses, Martin perhaps with the sword of his end.

Disputed questions

A pair or a coincidence? The notice joins the two names in one line with verses for Martin only; whether they were companions in one contest is not stated, and the sources do not permit a decision.
Not to be confused with Isaac (Isaacius), bishop of Cyprus, commemorated with Meletius the day before (September 21), nor with the hieromartyr Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome (April 14): the bearers of both names here are otherwise unknown martyrs.