Episcopate at Caesarea
Theoteknus governed Caesarea Maritima, the chief see of Roman Palestine, in the later third century. The surviving episcopal succession places him after Domnus and before Agapius of Caesarea, who held the see from about 303 to about 312 and is said to have trained the church historian Eusebius, his own successor.
Because his tenure ran up to roughly 303, the beginning of the Diocletianic persecution, he is variously classed among both third- and fourth-century bishops of the Roman Empire.
The Martyrdom of Marinus
The one detailed account of Theoteknus comes from Book VII of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History. In the reign of Gallienus, when the churches were at peace, a distinguished soldier named Marinus at Caesarea stood in line for promotion to centurion, an office marked by the Roman vine-branch. A rival objected that Marinus, being a Christian, could not lawfully hold the dignity because Christians refused to sacrifice to the emperors. The judge Achaeus confirmed that Marinus was a Christian and gave him three hours to consider his position.
Learning of the case, Theoteknus went to Marinus, took him by the hand, and led him up to the church. There he drew back his cloak a little to point to the sword hanging at Marinus's side, and at the same moment laid the book of the Gospels before him, telling him to choose which of the two he wished. Marinus stretched out his right hand and took the Gospels, and Theoteknus urged him to hold fast to God and to depart in peace, strengthened for what he had chosen.
Returning to the tribunal after the appointed hours with even greater zeal, Marinus was at once led away and put to death. Eusebius adds that a senator of high rank, Astyrius (Asterius), took the body upon his own shoulders and gave it a costly burial; by tradition Astyrius was himself soon afterward condemned and beheaded for the act. The anchor description of Theoteknus as burying Marinus appears to fold the senator's role into the bishop's; the documented part of Theoteknus's role is the spiritual intervention before the martyrdom.
Identity and Commemoration
Theoteknus of Caesarea is distinct from the martyr Theotecnus of Antioch. Marinus and Astyrius are commemorated together in the Eastern Orthodox tradition on August 7 (and in the Roman calendar on March 3), but no separate, firmly established feast for the bishop Theoteknus is attested in the available sources. His commemoration and details accordingly stand in need of clergy and source review.
