Monday, 10 August 2026

Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Lawrence of Rome

Monday of the 11th week after Pentecost

120 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Liturgy · Dormition Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Archdeacon and Martyr Lawrence of Rome

Saint Lawrence (Laurentius) was, according to ancient tradition, a native of northern Spain, sent in his youth to Rome where he became a disciple of the future Pope Sixtus II. When Sixtus was elevated to the see of Rome in 257 he ordained Lawrence deacon and made him chief of the seven deacons of the Roman Church, with the duty of administering the goods of the church and the care of the poor. In August of 258 the emperor Valerian issued an edict ordering that all bishops, priests and deacons be put to death without delay. Pope Sixtus was beheaded on 6 August together with the deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus. As Sixtus was led away Lawrence followed weeping, lamenting that he was being left behind, but the bishop foretold that the deacon would follow him in three days to a more glorious contest. The prefect of Rome, hearing that the church had wealth, demanded that Lawrence hand over its treasures. Lawrence asked for three days, gathered the poor, the lame, the blind and the widows whom the church supported, and presented them to the prefect, saying, "Behold the treasures of the Church." Enraged, the prefect ordered him roasted alive on a gridiron over slow coals. Saint Lawrence endured the torture with such serenity that he is said to have remarked to his executioners, "Turn me over, this side is cooked." He gave up his soul to God on 10 August 258, and his witness moved many to embrace the faith, including the soldier Romanus, who was baptised by him in prison and martyred shortly afterwards. He is commemorated on 10 August.

Holy Martyr Romanus the Soldier of Rome

The Holy Martyr Romanus was a Roman soldier who guarded the prison where the archdeacon Lawrence was held during the persecution of Valerian in 258. Witnessing the tortures inflicted on Lawrence, Romanus saw a radiant youth standing beside the martyr and wiping his wounds, and was so struck by this vision that his own heart was opened to belief in Christ. Bringing a pitcher of water into the prison, he begged Lawrence to baptise him; the deacon poured the water over his head and named him a Christian. Almost immediately Romanus was seized by his fellow soldiers and brought before the emperor; before he could be questioned he cried out, "I am a Christian." For this confession he was condemned and beheaded on 9 August 258, the day before Saint Lawrence himself was put to the gridiron, and his memory is observed together with that of the archdeacon on 10 August.

Holy Martyrs Sixtus, Pope of Rome, Felicissimus and Agapitus

Saint Sixtus II became Bishop of Rome in 257, succeeding Pope Stephen I, and from his short pontificate he is remembered for restoring peace between the Roman see and the churches of Africa and the East. When the emperor Valerian issued his second decree against the Christians in 258, ordering the immediate execution of bishops, priests and deacons, Sixtus continued to celebrate the holy mysteries with his clergy in the catacombs of Praetextatus on the Appian Way. On 6 August 258 he was discovered there with his deacons during the divine liturgy and was beheaded, together with the deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus, who shared his martyrdom on the same day. Two more deacons of the Roman church, Januarius and Magnus, were also martyred at that time, while the seventh and chief deacon, Lawrence, was put to death three days later. The bodies of Sixtus, Felicissimus and Agapitus were buried in the catacombs where they had been seized, and their feast was celebrated at Rome from very ancient times. In the Eastern Orthodox Church their memory is observed together with that of Saint Lawrence on 10 August, the day of the archdeacon's passion.

Also commemorated: Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Lawrence of Rome

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 2.3-15

³And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. ⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. ⁵But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. ⁶Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. ⁷So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. ⁸Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. ⁹For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. ¹⁰To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; ¹¹Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. ¹²Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, ¹³I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia. ¹⁴Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. ¹⁵For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 23.13-22

¹³But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. ¹⁴Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. ¹⁵Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. ¹⁶Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! ¹⁷Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? ¹⁸And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. ¹⁹Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? ²⁰Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. ²¹And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. ²²And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.