Hieromartyr Lucian

Life

A Roman, renowned for his noble origin, wealth, and learning. For a time he was a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Later Pope Clement sent him with Dionysius the Areopagite to Gaul to preach the Gospel, having previously ordained him as bishop. With great zeal Lucian sowed the teaching of Christ first in Gaul and then in Belgium. When the wicked Emperor Domitian began the persecution of Christians, special men were sent from Rome to Gaul to seek out and seize Christian missionaries. They first captured and slew Saint Dionysius, and then went in pursuit of Lucian. Finding him in Belgium, together with his helpers the presbyter Maximian and the deacon Julian, they slew these two in one place and beheaded Lucian in another. When Lucian was beheaded, his dead body rose from the ground, took its head in its hands (like Saint Dionysius and Saint John Vladimir), and walked to the place where he wished to be buried. There he fell, and there he was buried. Over his relics a church was later built.