A priest of Singidunum (present-day Belgrade) and his wife who, during the persecution under Diocletian, refused to sacrifice to the idols; they were drowned for confessing Christ.
Feast Day
March 26
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The Holy Martyrs Montanus the Presbyter and Maxima of Singidunum
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Life
Montanus and Maxima were a married couple martyred in the early fourth century during the persecution under the emperor Diocletian. Montanus was a presbyter (priest) of Singidunum, the Roman settlement on the site of present-day Belgrade, and Maxima was his wife.
Refusing to sacrifice to the idols as the imperial edict required, the two were arrested and condemned, and their remains were cast into the Sava River. They are commemorated together on March 26.
Timeline 3 moments
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Early 4th centuryLife in SingidunumMontanus, a presbyter, and his wife Maxima lived in Singidunum (present-day Belgrade) during the persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian. When Galerius, the emperor's deputy, issued an edict requiring Christians to sacrifice to the idols, the couple refused and sought to withdraw from the seat of power by traveling westward to Sirmium.
c. 304Arrest and trialRoman soldiers captured them and brought them before the governor Probus. According to the synaxarion their trial took place on a bridge overlooking the Sava River, where they were given the choice to sacrifice to the idols or die. Montanus answered that to sacrifice would be to reject Christ, and Maxima defended the faith with such eloquence that Probus is said to have cut the trial short, fearing the crowd would be converted.
c. 304MartyrdomThe couple were put to death for their confession, and their remains were cast into the Sava River. The faithful afterward recovered the bodies from the water.
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Martyrdom and Its Accounts
The two refused to obey the edict requiring sacrifice to the idols, and they were condemned by the governor Probus. The accounts agree that their remains were thrown into the Sava River and afterward recovered by the faithful. They differ on the immediate manner of death: the anchor record describes the couple as drowned for confessing Christ, while the OCA and Mystagogy accounts state that they were beheaded by the sword before their remains were cast into the river. Both accounts place the martyrdom by the river under Probus in the persecution of Diocletian.
The synaxarion relates that Maxima's defense of the faith was so eloquent that Probus ended the trial early, fearing that her words would lead the watching crowd to embrace Christianity.
Relics & Shrines
After their remains were recovered from the Sava River, they were, according to the sources, transported to Rome and interred in the Catacombs of Saint Priscilla on the Salarian Way, where they are said to have remained for some 1,500 years.
Their companions & kin
Wife of Montanus, martyred with him; the two are commemorated together.
Maxima
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints
