Saint Quartus | |
---|---|
Martyr | |
Born | Unknown (1st century) Athens, Greece |
Died | 4 October (1st century) Athens, Greece |
Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church, Coptic Orthodox Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy |
Feast | 10 November |
Quartus (Greek: Κούαρτος, romanized: Kouartos) was an early Christian who is mentioned in the Bible.
According to church tradition, he is known as Quartus of Berytus[1] and is numbered among the Seventy Disciples. Furthermore, he was Bishop of Beirut and suffered for the faith. He converted many to the Christian faith. His feast day is 10 November.
Quartus was born in the city of Athens, and was one of its wealthy and learned nobles. He believed in the Lord Christ and served him. Having received the grace of the Comforter on the day of Pentecost, he preached the gospel in many countries. He entered the city of Magnis and preached there. The people of the city believed; he baptized them and taught them the commandments. Then he returned to Athens, to preach there also, but they stoned him and tortured him severely. Finally they cast him into the fire; thus, he received the crown of martyrdom.
The New American Standard Bible translates Romans 16:23 as follows:
Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother.
Although the literal translation of the Greek is that Quartus is "the" brother, most scholars interpret this as meaning that Quartus is a fellow believer, rather than a brother of Erastus.[2] Thus, some translations such as the NIV translate the phrase as "our brother Quartus".
Kontakion (Tone 2)
Source: St. Nikolai Velimirovic, The Prologue from Ohrid