Hieromartyr Lucian the Presbyter of Antioch

Scholarship and Biblical Recension

Lucian's principal legacy lies in textual scholarship. He is credited with a critical recension of the text of the Septuagint and of the Greek New Testament. According to the tradition, he corrected Hebrew texts of Scripture that had been distorted, supporting himself through his compilations while living ascetically.

His revised manuscripts became widely current in Syria, Asia Minor, and Constantinople, and his recension is later associated with the textual tradition that influenced figures such as John Chrysostom. Some scholars, following Adolf von Harnack, regard him as the first head of the School of Antioch.

St. Jerome, in On Illustrious Men (chapter 77), calls Lucian 'a man of great talent, presbyter of the Church at Antioch,' notes that copies of the Scriptures still bore Lucian's name in his own day, and records that works of his, including a treatise On Faith and short epistles, were then extant.

Suspicion and Reconciliation

After the deposition of Bishop Paul of Samosata, Lucian came under suspicion in connection with that controversy. According to one account he remained separated from communion for roughly thirty-five years before being reconciled to the Church under Bishop Cyril of Antioch, around the year 285.

Relics & Shrines

Lucian was buried at Drepanum in Bithynia. The town was later renamed Helenopolis in honor of Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. According to the sources, Constantine honored Lucian by building a church dedicated to him at Helenopolis and granting the city tax immunity in his memory. The October 15 commemoration is said to coincide with the dedication of a church built over his relics.

Miracles & Traditions

Historically Documented: St. John Chrysostom is recorded as having delivered an encomium in honor of Lucian on the day after the Feast of Theophany, the traditional date of his death.

Traditional Accounts: According to tradition recorded in the synaxarion, on the journey to Nicomedia Lucian's counsel converted forty soldiers to Christianity, all of whom were themselves martyred. While imprisoned he is said to have celebrated the Divine Liturgy using his own chest as an altar, surrounded by fellow Christian prisoners, and to have received Holy Communion on the Feast of Theophany. A later tradition holds that after his death his body was cast into the sea and returned to land by a dolphin. He is sometimes depicted as a bishop in Russian iconography, though he held only the rank of priest.

Feast Days and Commemoration

Lucian's original commemoration fell on January 7, the date of his death. In the Eastern Orthodox calendar the feast was transferred to October 15, after January 7 came to be observed as the Synaxis of St. John the Baptist. He is commemorated on January 7 in the Roman Catholic tradition, and on the Monday after the fifth Sunday after Pentecost in the Armenian tradition.