Saints Lawrence the Archdeacon, Sixtus the Pope of Rome and Hippolytus as Models for our Lives

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

These three Saints lived in the third century. Archdeacon Lawrence was one of the most famous clerics of the Church of old Rome. He was a man of many and varied gifts, which he used for the glory of Christ and His Church. Among other things, he also took charge of the ecclesiastical administration. There was a severe persecution against the members of the Church, during the reign of Emperor Decius, and Pope Sixtus II of Rome, a genuine imitator of the Chief-Shepherd Christ, led his flock and was the first to sacrifice himself. He confessed his faith in Christ with a great deal of courage, and after severe torture he was beheaded. Archdeacon Lawrence was subsequently arrested, and confessed his faith in Christ with courage and boldness. It is worth noting that, when they arrested him, before torturing him, because they had learned that he was managing the Church's property, they ordered him to surrender its treasures. He accepted and went to bring them. After some time he returned with carriages, each of which was full of poor people, widows, the disabled and orphans. And to the question of the governor as to why he brought them all before him, he replied that all the treasures of the Church were reserved in them. Then the furious pagans rushed against him and roasted him alive on a large rack. What was left of his martyric remains were gathered by a pious Christian, whose name was Hippolytus, and buried with proper reverence and honor. When this event became known, the ruler ordered him to be arrested and severely tortured. They tied him to wild horses, where they dragged him on stones and thorns, and so he ended in martyrdom his earthly life.

Saint Lawrence of Rome Resource Page

St. Lawrence of Rome (Feast Day - August 10)

Verses

Lawrence like a sea bass of Christ,

Is thoroughly baked over the bed of coals.

Synaxarion of the Holy Martyrs Lawrence, Pope Sixtus II and Hippolytus

Saint Lawrence the Martyr and Archdeacon of Rome (St. Leo the Great)

Saint Lawrence of Rome as a Model Deacon (St. Ambrose of Milan)

Saint Lawrence of Rome as a Model for our Lives 

Saints Lawrence the Archdeacon, Sixtus the Pope of Rome and Hippolytus as Models for our Lives

 

August: Day 10: Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Lawrence

4 Miracles of Saint Lawrence of Rome

Saint Lawrence of Rome as a Model Deacon (St. Ambrose of Milan)

By St. Ambrose of Milan

(On the Duties of the Clergy)

Book 1, Chapter 41:

And let us not pass by St. Lawrence, who, seeing Sixtus his bishop led to martyrdom, began to weep, not at his sufferings but at the fact that he himself was to remain behind. With these words he began to address him: "Where, father, are you going without your son? Where, holy priest, are you hastening without your deacon? Never were you wont to offer sacrifice without an attendant. What are you displeased at in me, my father? Have you found me unworthy? Prove, then, whether you have chosen a fitting servant. To him to whom you have entrusted the consecration of the Savior's blood, to whom you have granted fellowship in partaking of the Sacraments, to him do you refuse a part in your death? Beware lest your good judgment be endangered, while your fortitude receives its praise. The rejection of a pupil is the loss of the teacher; or how is it that noble and illustrious men gain the victory in the contests of their scholars rather than in their own? Abraham offered his son, Peter sent Stephen on before him! Father, show forth your courage in your son. Offer me whom you have trained, that you, confident in your choice of me, may reach the crown in worthy company."

4 Miracles of Saint Lawrence of Rome

1. The Garrulous Nun

St. Gregory the Great, in his Dialogues (Bk. 4, Ch. 51), writes:

"Felix, Bishop of Portua, a man of holy life, who was born and brought up in the province of Sabina, saith that there lived in that place a certain nun, which, though she were chaste of her body, yet had she an ungracious and foolish tongue. Having departed this life, she was buried in the church, the keeper whereof, the night following, saw her by revelation brought before the holy altar, where she was cut in two pieces, and the one half was burnt in the fire, and the other was not touched at all. Rising up in the morning, he told others what a strange vision he had seen, and showed them the very place in which she was burnt, the marble whereof appeared with the very marks and signs of a fire upon it, as though that woman had been there burnt in very deed with corporal fire. By which we may plainly see, that such as have not their sins pardoned, can reap small benefit by having their bodies after death buried in holy places."