Holy Martyr Longinus the Centurion, Who Stood at the Cross of the Lord (I)
The holy Martyr Longinus the centurion served in Judaea and was a subordinate of the procurator Pontius Pilate. At the crucifixion of the Saviour the troop commanded by the Roman soldier Longinus stood guard around Golgotha, at the very foot of the Cross. Together with his soldiers he saw the last moments of the Lord’s earthly life and the miracles that took place after His death. These events shook the soldier’s soul. He believed in Christ and publicly confessed: “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54) (according to church tradition, Longinus was the soldier who pierced the Saviour’s side with a spear, and was granted healing of his diseased eye by the blood and water that flowed from the wound).
After the Saviour’s burial Longinus and his troop guarded the Lord’s tomb. There, by the will of God, they became witnesses of Christ’s radiant Resurrection. The Jews bribed the guards and made them say that Christ’s body had been stolen by His disciples, but Longinus and two of his fellow soldiers did not covet the gold of the godless.
The soldiers were baptised by the hands of the apostles and left military service. Longinus made his way to his homeland, Cappadocia, preaching the Gospel. The soldiers too, the Lord’s chosen ones, went with him. The fervent preaching of direct witnesses of the great events that had taken place in Judaea shook the Cappadocians. Christianity spread with astonishing speed in the city and the villages around it. When they learned of this, the Jewish elders persuaded Pilate to send a troop of soldiers to kill Longinus and his companions. The former centurion himself went out to meet the soldiers and invited them to his home. During the meal the guests, who did not know whose house they were in, revealed the purpose of their coming. Longinus and his fellow soldiers did not hide who they were, and asked the astonished soldiers to carry out their orders. The soldiers wanted to let the saints go and suggested that they flee, but the Lord’s chosen ones, burning with the desire to suffer for Christ, refused. Then the holy martyrs were beheaded.
The martyrs’ bodies were buried where they themselves had asked, while their severed heads were sent to Pilate. By order of the lawless ruler they were thrown onto a rubbish heap outside the city walls. Some time later a blind woman came to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places. The centurion Longinus appeared to her in her sleep and told her to find his head and bury it. The blind woman was taken to the rubbish heap. When she touched the holy relic, her eyes were opened. Filled with gratitude to God, the devout woman reverently carried the precious head to Cappadocia and committed it to the earth.
