{{short description|5th century Christian Saint}} {{About|5th century Christian saint||Marutha (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox saint |honorific_prefix=Saint |name=Maruthas |birth_date= 4th century |death_date= ca. 420 |feast_day=4 December (Roman Catholic Church)<ref name=Catholic.org>{{cite web | url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4953 | title=St. Maruthas | publisher=catholic.org | accessdate=August 21, 2012}}</ref> |venerated_in= Roman Catholicism<br>Eastern Catholicism<br>Eastern Orthodoxy<br>Oriental Orthodoxy |image=Saint Maruthas, Bishop of Martyropolis in Mesopotamia (Menologion of Basil II).jpeg |imagesize=250px |caption=Maruthas portrayed in the ''Menologion of Basil II'' |birth_place= |death_place= |titles=Father of the Syrian Church<ref name=Catholic.org/> |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date= |canonized_place= |canonized_by=Pre-Congregation |attributes= |patronage= |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= }}
'''Maruthas''' or '''Marutha of Martyropolis''' was a Syriac monk who became bishop<ref name="Marcus47">"The Armenian Life of Marutha of Maipherkat", Ralph Marcus, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan., 1932), 47. </ref> of Maypherkat in Mesopotamia (Meiafarakin)<ref name="Marcus50">"The Armenian Life of Marutha of Maipherkat", Ralph Marcus, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', 50.</ref> for a period beginning before 399 up to around 410. He is believed to have died before 420. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, his feast being kept on 4 December.
He brought into his episcopal city the relics of so many martyrs that it received the Greek moniker ''Martyropolis''. During his tenure as bishop he was a friend of Byzantine churchman John Chrysostom. Moreover, it was through this political connections he was able to act as an envoy and ambassador between the East Roman Emperor and the Persian Emperor.<ref name="Marcus47"/>
In the interests of the Church of Persia, which had suffered much in the persecution of Shapur II, he came to Constantinople, but found Emperor Arcadius too busily engaged in the affairs about the exile of St. John Chrysostom. Later Maruthas was sent by Emperor Theodosius II to the court of Persia, where, notwithstanding the Magi, he won the esteem of King Yazdegerd I of Persia by his affability, saintly life,<ref>"The Armenian Life of Marutha of Maipherkat", Ralph Marcus, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', 49.</ref> and, as is claimed, by his knowledge of medicine.<ref name="Marcus50"/> Marutha therefore managed to negotiate a peace between the two empires.
He was present at the general First Council of Constantinople in 381 and at a Council of Antioch in 383 (or 390), at which the Messalians were condemned. For the benefit of the Persian Church he is said to have held two synods at Ctesiphon.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wvvREAAAQBAJ |title = Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon: Under Mar Isaac |isbn = 9781088234327 |last1 = Curtin|first1 = D. P.|date = May 2021}}</ref> A great organizer, he was one of the first to give a regular structure to the church, helped in his mission by the catholicos Isaac.
His writings include: *''Acts of the Persian Martyrs'' (these acts remember the victims of the persecution of Shapur II and Yazdegerd I)<ref>"The Armenian Life of Marutha of Maipherkat", Ralph Marcus, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', 47-48.</ref> *''History of the Council of Nicaea'' *A translation in Syriac of the canons of the Council of Nicaea *A Syrian liturgy, or anaphora *Commentaries on the Gospels *''Acts of the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon'' He also wrote hymns on the Holy Eucharist, on the Cross, and on saints killed in Shapur's persecution.
==Notes== {{Commonscat|Maruthas}} {{Reflist}}
==References== *[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09748a.htm Maruthas] from the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1915) *De Lacy O'Leary, ''The Syriac Church and Fathers'' (2002) *Smith, William & Wace, Henry (editors); ''A dictionary of christian biography, literature, sects and doctrine'', "Maruthas (1)", (1877). * Moffett, Samuel Hugh. ''A History of Christianity in Asia'', (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1998) p. 154-155 {{Catholic|wstitle=St. Maruthas}} {{Catholic saints - Church Fathers|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}} Category:4th-century births Category:420 deaths Category:5th-century Mesopotamian bishops Category:4th-century Mesopotamian bishops Category:Persian saints Category:Syrian Christian saints Category:5th-century Christian saints Category:5th-century Byzantine writers Category:Martyropolis Category:Roman–Iranian relations Category:People from Diyarbakır Province