Saint Leontius of Tripoli

On July 1, the Church commemorates the holy martyr Leontius. He was one of the great saints of early Christianity. He was venerated as the patron saint of all Syria and regarded as the protector of the Byzantine army. Churches dedicated to him were found throughout the Christian East, from Lebanon to Constantinople and from the Arabian Peninsula to Palestine.

The renowned Desert Mother Melania the Younger (383–439), founder of the great monasteries of Palestine; the bishop and theologian Peter the Iberian (411–491), whom tradition even regards as the true author of the works of Dionysius the Areopagite; Bishop Severus of Antioch (465–538), founder of the Anti-Chalcedonian Syrian Church; and many others made pilgrimages to Leontius’ greatest shrine, his Martyrium. They deeply venerated the saint and dedicated prayers and sermons to him.

The martyrdom of Saint Leontius took place in the city of Tripoli, the region that united Tyre, Sidon, and Arwad, from which he received the title Leontius of Tripoli. In the liturgical calendar he is also commemorated as Leontius of Phoenicia and Leontius of Syria. The Lebanese city of Tripoli still exists today as a modern metropolis with nearly a million inhabitants, and, unlike much of the Middle East, it continues to have a visible Christian presence.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Peter says to Christ:

“Behold, we have left everything and followed You. What then shall we have?”

Jesus replies:

“Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:27–29)

The life of Saint Leontius after his martyrdom became the literal fulfillment of these words. Because of the extraordinary love and veneration that surrounded his memory, different local Church traditions placed him in different historical periods, each seeking to draw as close as possible to him and regarding him as their own. The absence of a precise historical chronology allowed various traditions to make him their contemporary, not as a matter of possession, but as an expression of spiritual closeness and devotion.

In the same way, the hagiographical tradition associated several holy martyrs with Saint Leontius as companions of his final passion. They may have suffered separately, in different places and under different circumstances, yet the memory of the Church brought them together with him. This was a sign of the extraordinary love inspired by Saint Leontius: many saints were remembered as those who stood beside him at the final moment.

“Friend of the Last Minute” is a term in the Theology of Holiness that refers to a saint, a witness, or simply a person who shares the martyr’s final suffering — or even the one who delivers him to death. In the language of holiness, the “Friend of the Last Minute” is not merely a historical figure connected to the martyr’s death, but a person whom tradition places at the threshold of the saint’s final testimony before God.

According to the testimony preserved by Severus of Antioch (c. 465–538), which some scholars consider the earliest account, Saint Leontius learned that his teacher Publius had been led to death for his faith. When Publius approached the moment of confessing Christ under terrible torture, Leontius himself openly proclaimed Christ on the way to his own Golgotha.

The Life of Saint Leontius adds that he was a soldier in the Roman army. He preached among his fellow soldiers and gave his military salary to support the martyrs who were imprisoned for their faith. The suffering of Christians was so severe that even bringing them basic necessities or allowing them to pray sometimes required bribing the guards.

As an unwritten military rule says, exhausted soldiers make mistakes. The pagans acted not only through threats but also through temptation and spiritual confusion. Their very presence, often connected with magical practices, was perceived by Christians as a danger to the soul, capable of disturbing a person’s faith and leading him away from Christ.

According to the Life, the soldiers Hypatius and Theodulus, who had originally been sent to arrest Leontius, converted to faith in Christ. One detail of the story is especially remarkable: after their conversion, they were baptized by Leontius during a heavy rainstorm.

The early Church understood faith as an absolute gift of God. “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth,” begins the Creed. In the original Greek, the word translated as “Creator” (Poiētēs) literally means “Poet.”

God is the greatest Poet of all time. Faith is His gift. The Passion of the Martyrs is a poem, unique for every human being. This poem of a fulfilled human life is written by the hands of God. As Saint Irenaeus of Lyons famously taught, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit are the two hands of God. Through these divine hands, God writes the story of every human life, bringing it to its true fulfillment. This is the mystery revealed in Scripture.