October: Day 15:
Holy Hieromartyr Lucian
(On the Mystery of Holy Communion and our Duty to Partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachen
Holy Hieromartyr Lucian
(On the Mystery of Holy Communion and our Duty to Partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachen
I. The Holy Hieromartyr Lucian, glorified today by the Church, having become an orphan at the age of twelve, distributed his property to the poor, and began to study the Holy Scriptures under the guidance of Saint Makarios the Confessor. For his strict life and the spread of Christian enlightenment, Saint Lucian was ordained a priest. In this holy rank, Lucian redoubled his labors. He rendered a special service by correcting the text of the Holy Scriptures, having set out the Greek, Syriac, and Hebrew texts in three columns for comparison. Saint Lucian ended his difficult life with a martyr's death. By order of the Emperor Maximian, he was cruelly tortured, and then chained, imprisoned, and starved. Saint Lucian was unable to move from exhaustion, but nevertheless, wishing to be worthy of partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, he lay with his back on the sharp stones of the prison and performed a bloodless sacrifice on the feast of the Theophany on his chest, to prepare himself and other Christian prisoners for death; after which he died.