Martyr
Martyr Lucillian of Byzantium
† ок. 270-275
Martyr Lucillian of Byzantium — a former pagan priest who converted to Christ in old age; together with four youth-martyrs (Claudius, Hypatius, Paul, and Dionysius) and the virgin Paula, he suffered under Emperor Aurelian: the youths were beheaded, while Lucillian himself, as their elder and a former priest, was crucified.
Martyr Lucillian in his youth and mature years was a pagan priest. In old age, convinced of the falsity of paganism, he turned to Christ, was baptized, and began openly preaching the faith, converting many. Denounced to the authorities (according to one source, by Jewish informers) under Emperor Aurelian (270-275), he was seized, beaten, and imprisoned for refusing to renounce Christ.
In prison he met (according to another version, they joined him after seeing a vision of an elder crucified among angels) four youths — Claudius, Hypatius, Paul, and Dionysius — already held there for confessing Christ. Together with them he was subjected to torture (an attempt to burn them in a furnace, extinguished by sudden rain), and then transferred for execution to Byzantium (the pre-Constantinian name of Constantinople): the four youths were beheaded by the sword, while Lucillian, as their elder and a former priest, was crucified, nailed to the cross through his entire body.
The virgin Paula, who had ministered to the martyrs and witnessed their feat, was subsequently seized and also suffered martyrdom.
His relics were placed in Constantinople and became renowned for healings.
His feast is kept on June 3/16.
CONSISTENT with the previously processed entry klavdiy_vizantiyskiy: the same group martyrdom, the same date of June 3/16; Martyr Claudius is one of the four youths beheaded together with Lucillian, a distinct person from him (not a duplication, but properly a separate entry within one group of martyrs).