On the Danube border of the Roman Empire, three Christians were executed who ignored the imperial decree on sacrifices. They were taken from the city to the village of Ozovia and beheaded. Seventeen centuries later, the church remembers these people under the names Dada, Maximus and Quintilian.
The reason for the arrest was a festival organized by the governors Tarquinius and Gavinius. They gathered the inhabitants of Dorostol and the surrounding villages. Three men did not attend the ceremony. As it turned out, they went to pray in their village. The informant reported this to the authorities, and a squad was sent for them.
During the interrogation, the arrested immediately declared themselves Christians. Tarquinius offered Maximus the position of priest of Zeus. He refused in rude form, calling the deity “a bad adulterer.” The other two said they fully shared Maximus’s position because he knew the Scriptures best.
The contradiction in the sources concerns kinship. One version calls all three brothers, the other a teacher and two students. Either way, the difference in status did not affect the outcome of the case.
After the first interrogation, the men were sent to prison. According to legend, an angel appeared to them at night, promising an ambulance and receiving a soul. In the morning, the governor reported that the pagan gods in a dream demanded that the prisoners be executed if they did not change their minds. The answer remained the same.
The torture interrogations lasted for several days. The verdict followed. The convicts were taken under escort to Ozovia, the very village where they were detained, and executed with the sword.
The memory of the martyrs is celebrated on May 11 in a new style. In church tradition, they are considered an example of how refusing to participate formally in a pagan ritual could cost lives during the era of Diocletian persecution.
Memorial Days
May 11
Lives of Saints
