Feast of Sts. Captain Lukianos, who believed in Christ’s Crucifixion, Joseph - the Godfather, Joseph of Arimathea, and Friends of Christ – Lazarus and his two sisters – Martha and Mary

According to the tradition the Captain Lukianos (Longinus the Centurion) has witnessed the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the wonders occurring after the Lord’s death. He has been a Roman soldier from Cappadocia. During the Lord’s he believes in Christ’s doctrine and is converted to Christaianity. Witnessing the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, he refuses to bear false testimony and tell that the Lord’s disciples have stolen His Body. He has been beheaded by Pilate.

Joseph, the Godfather, is the descendant of David. He is the earthly father of Jesus Christ and the husband of St. Mary. Evangelist St. Mathew characterizes him as “a man who always did what was right”. (See the Gospel according to Matthew 1:19). When Joseph finds out that Mary, to whom he was engaged, is going to have a baby, he makes plans to break the engagement privately. While he is thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him to take Mary to be his wife and that the baby is by the Holy Spirit. The angel also tells Joseph to name the baby Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Understanding the importance of the mission entrusted to him by God, Joseph defends Mary and takes care of her. When Jesus is born and the time comes, Joseph performs the ceremony of purification, as the Law of Moses commanded, and takes the forty-day-old child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. And when a threat to the life of baby Jesus arises, Joseph takes the child and his mother and escapes to Egypt, and after a while he again returns with them to Nazareth. St Joseph is distinguished by his unshaken faith in God. He has always tried to fulfill the divine commandments.

St. Joseph of Arimathea was one of the secret disciples of Jesus Christ. He was a rich, honest, pious and fair man waiting for the Kingdom of God. Becoming aware of the Lord’s Death on the Cross, he dares and goes to Pilate and asks for the body of Christ for burying. It is supposed that his tomb is near the tomb of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, in a small chapel, belonging to the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Lazarus, Martha and Mary have lived in the period of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ in the village Bethany not far from Jerusalem. Christ had special feeling of love towards them and when visiting to Jerusalem has stopped at their house. Christ rose Lazarus to life thus making the sisters happy. Martha was the elder sister, active and hardworking, and Mary, the junior sister, was very pious woman. After the resurrection of Lazarus Mary pours the perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. According to the tradition they go to Cyprus and live there till their death.