Martyr Leontius of Tripoli - Dr. Augustin Sokolovski

On July 1st, the Church celebrates the memory of the holy martyr Leontius. He was a great saint of ancient Christianity. He was venerated as the patron saint of all Syria and considered the protector of the Byzantine army. Temples in his name existed throughout the East, from Lebanon to Constantinople, from the Arabian Peninsula to Palestine.

The famous Desert Mother Melania the Younger (383–439), founder of the great monasteries of Palestine; the bishop and theologian Peter the Iberian (411–491), who, according to tradition, is even considered the true author of the works of Dionysius the Areopagite; founder of the Anti-Chalcedonian Syrian Church, Bishop Severus of Antioch (465–538), and many others made pilgrimages to Leontius's most important shrine, his Martyrium; they venerated him deeply and dedicated prayers and sermons to him.

The martyrdom of the saint took place in the city of Tripoli, which unites Tyre, Sidon and Arwad, from which he received his name Leontius of Tripoli. In the calendar, the saint is also called Leontius of Phoenicia or Leontius of Syria. The Lebanese Tripoli exists to this day as a modern metropolis with almost a million inhabitants, and, unlike most countries in the Middle East, there is a visible Christian presence.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Peter addresses Christ with the words: "Behold, we have left all and followed you. What will become of us then?" Jesus answers: "Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life" (Matthew 19:27-29).

The life of Saint Leontius after his martyrdom was the literal fulfillment of these words. Various local church traditions and even very different eras made him their contemporary; several holy martyrs became his final companions. "Friend of the last moment" is a term in holiness theology that refers to the saint, the witness, or simply a person who shared the martyr's final sufferings or even killed him.

Often, "friends of the last moment" themselves experienced conversion. According to Severus of Antioch, whose testimony some researchers consider the oldest, Saint Leontius learned that his teacher, Publius, was being led to death for his faith. As he approached the moment when he would have to confess his Christian faith under the most brutal torture, he loudly proclaimed Christ in advance on the way to his personal Golgotha.

The life supplements this account by stating that Leontius was a soldier in the Roman army. He preached among his comrades. Leontius donated his military salary to the martyrs in prison. The reality of suffering for the faith was so difficult that one literally had to bribe the guards to pray or receive basic provisions. And, as a unwritten military rule states, exhausted soldiers often make mistakes. Pagans acted not only through threats but also through deception. Their mere presence, often combined with magic, was extremely toxic and dangerous.

According to the biography, the soldiers Hypatius and Theodulus, who were originally sent to arrest Leontius, converted to faith in Christ. One episode in the biography is remarkable: After converting to faith, they were baptized by Leontius in a tropical downpour!

The early Church viewed faith as an absolute divine gift. "I believe in one God, the Father, Creator of heaven and earth," begins the Creed. The word "Creator," in the original Greek "Poiitis," literally means "poet."

God is the greatest poet of all times and peoples. Faith is his gift. And the Passion of the Martyrs is a poem, unique and proper to each human being. This poem of a fulfilled human biography is written by the hands of God, who, as the martyr Irenaeus of Lyons (+200) said, are the Son of God and the Holy Spirit.