died c. 307
Three martyrs who suffered at Ozovia in Macedonia during the persecution under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Refusing to sacrifice to the idols, they confessed Christ and were beheaded.
The Holy Martyrs Maximus, Quintilian and Dadas
Maximus, Quintilian and Dadas were three Christians martyred during the persecution under the emperor Diocletian, who had issued a decree requiring everyone to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods and ordering Christians put to death. Refusing to sacrifice to the idols, they confessed Christ and were beheaded. They are commemorated together on April 13 and again on April 28.
The accounts differ on the precise setting and on the relationship among the three. The in-repo notice places their suffering at Ozovia in the region treated as Macedonia, while the wider tradition connected with the April 28 commemoration locates them at Ozovia near Dorostolum (Durostorum, modern Silistra) in Moesia. Some sources present the three as brothers, while others describe Maximus as a presbyter and Dadas and Quintilian as his disciples; the tradition agrees that all three suffered together.
By the synaxarion account, after the persecuting authorities sought to enforce the imperial decree, the men withdrew into the forest of Ozovia rather than comply. Soldiers found them at prayer and led them out for trial before the local officials Tarquinius and Gabinius. Tarquinius offered to make Maximus a pagan priest, but Maximus rejected the offer, denouncing Zeus and confessing the true God. The three were then sentenced to death, led under guard back to the forest, and beheaded with a sword.
The tradition relates that during their imprisonment the martyrs were tempted to deny Christ but were strengthened in their resolve, and that an angel appeared to encourage them. When persuasion failed and they continued to confess Christ, the officials condemned them and carried out the sentence by beheading in the forest of Ozovia. The traditional date given for their death is 307.
According to the tradition surrounding the April 28 commemoration, the burial place of the martyrs was made known to local Christians, and a martyrium was built over their graves, which became a place associated with healing. Sources connected with Dorostolum further relate that their relics were later carried to Constantinople ahead of the region's conquest, and that the site of their martyrium was identified by archaeological excavation in the modern period.
Suffered at Ozovia in Macedonia; no Macedonia region term in the controlled vocabulary, so Greece is used as the nearest. Also commemorated Apr 28 as the Martyrs of Dorostolum in Moesia.