Maximus, Quintilian and Dadas
The Holy Martyrs Maximus, Quintilian and Dadas of Dorostolum
Martyr · d. c. 286
Commemorated 13 April — Martyrdom at Ozovia near Dorostolum under Diocletian and Maximian, 28 April — Slavic and American usage keeps the three martyrs on this day
Maximus, Quintilian (Kyntilianos) and Dadas were three kinsmen of the region of Dorostolum on the lower Danube (in Roman Moesia, now Silistra), martyred about the year 286 in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. Arrested for refusing to sacrifice at the pagan festival, they confessed Christ under interrogation and torture, and were beheaded at a place called Ozovia. The Church keeps their memory together on April 13.
The three were of the countryside about Dorostolum (Durostorum) in the province of Moesia — Maximus a farmer, Dadas and Quintilian described as men of standing, and by one strand of the tradition brothers or near kinsmen, one of them related to the imperial household. When the edicts of Diocletian and Maximian commanded a general sacrifice, and the pagan feast was proclaimed with orders that all should offer to the gods, the three withdrew and would not comply.
Denounced as Christians, they were brought before the governor Tarquinius (Gabinius, in some notices). Examined, they confessed Christ openly and refused every inducement and threat; they were tortured to force their apostasy, and, standing firm, were condemned. They were led to Ozovia, a place near the city, and there beheaded, receiving together the crown of martyrdom about 286. Their relics were honoured by the Christians of the Danubian country, which in that age gave many martyrs to the Church.
Feast and commemoration
April 13 (church date; Old Calendar civil April 26), together with St Martin the Confessor. They are numbered among the martyrs of the lower Danube, and with them their own city is remembered: Dorostolum gave the Church, three generations after them, Emilian of Dorostolum (July 18), burned there in 362 in the pagan restoration of Julian the Apostate.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of several martyrs)
Thy martyrs Maximus, Quintilian and Dadas, O Lord, in their contest received incorruptible crowns from Thee, our God; for possessing Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons. By their intercessions save our souls.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
The three are shown together as martyrs — young to middle-aged men in tunic and mantle, each holding the cross of witness; the scene of their beheading at Ozovia may be shown. No pre-1900 icon of them has been identified for this collection.