The Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Lawrence of Rome.
When Pope Stephen was slain (August 2),
then St. Sixtus, who was an Athenian by birth, was appointed in his
place. At first, Sixtus was a philosopher and, after that, a
Christian. At that time, the Bishops of Rome were slain one after the
other, so that, to become Bishop of Rome meant to be taken out to
death. Emperor Decius was determined to destroy Christianity and Pope
Sixtus was quickly brought to trial with two of his deacons,
Felicicius and Agapitus. As they were led to prison, Lawrence said to
the pope: "Where are you going Father, without your son? Where O
bishop, without your Archdeacon?" The pope consoled him,
prophesying to Lawrence that he will undergo even greater tortures
for Christ and that he [Lawrence] will shortly follow him [Sixtus].
And indeed, as soon as they had beheaded Sixtus and his two deacons,
Lawrence was apprehended. Beforehand, Lawrence had placed all of his
affairs and the affairs of the church in order. As treasurer and
Oikonomos [steward] of the church, he removed all of the church's
valuables to the home of the widower, Cyriacus. On that occasion, he
healed Cyriacus of a terrible head pain by the touch of his hand and
restored the sight of a blind man, Crescention. Thrown into prison,
even there Lawrence healed Lucillus, a prisoner of many years, of
blindness and after that baptized him. Witnessing this Hippolytus,
the jailer, was also baptized, and later suffered for Christ (August
13). Since Lawrence did not want to deny Christ but, on the contrary,
advised Emperor Decius to reject his false gods, he was beaten on the
face with stones and beaten on his entire body with a scorpion [a
whip, curved at the end like the tail of a scorpion] i.e., by a chain
with sharp teeth. Romanus, a soldier present at the torture, believed
in Christ and was immediately beheaded. Finally, they placed Lawrence
naked on a gridiron and lighted a fire. Roasting in the fire, St.
Lawrence thanked God and mocked the emperor for his paganism. After
Lawrence gave up his pure and heroic soul to God, his body was
removed at night by Hippolytus and taken, at first, to the home of
Cyriacus and afterwards to a cave where Hippolytus honorably buried
him. St. Lawrence, with the others, suffered in the year 258 A.D.
Respectfully Taken From the:
"The Prologue of Ohrid"
by St. Nikolai of Zica, Serbia(Velimirovic)
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