harmony
YouTube
Saint Longinus: Centurion at the Cross, Martyr, and Wonderworker
12:06
Saint Longinus was the Roman centurion who commanded the soldiers at Golgotha and guarded Christ's tomb. When the earthquake and darkness occurred at the crucifixion, he and his men feared greatly and confessed that Jesus was truly the Son of God. After the resurrection, Jewish leaders bribed the tomb guards to say the disciples stole the body; they also tried to bribe Longinus, but he refused.
Threatened with death, he removed his military belt, was baptized by the apostles along with two fellow soldiers, and secretly left Jerusalem for Cappadocia. There he devoted himself to fasting and prayer, and as a living witness of the resurrection he brought many pagans to the faith. Later, Pontius Pilate sent soldiers to behead him. Longinus spiritually perceived their arrival, welcomed them into his home without revealing his identity, and hosted them.
While they slept, he prayed all night, then in the morning put on white burial shrouds with his companions, instructed his household, showed them a burial place, and revealed himself to the soldiers, urging them to carry out their orders. They beheaded him, and his head was thrown on a garbage heap outside Jerusalem. Centuries later, a 14th‑century monk also named Longinus served as gatekeeper at the Kiev Caves Monastery.
His heart was so pure that he knew the thoughts of everyone who entered or left; his incorrupt relics remain in Theodosius's cave. After the centurion's martyrdom, a blind widow in Cappadocia whose only son had died on the way to Jerusalem received a vision from Longinus. He promised to restore her sight and show her son in heavenly glory, directing her to find his head on the Jerusalem garbage heap.
She dug there, touched the head, and her eyes opened immediately. She took the head, washed it, anointed it with fragrance, and kept it in her home as a precious treasure. The video also includes a meditation on Saint Stephen's speech in Acts 7 and on God's righteousness described as mountains and His judgments as a great deep, presenting the saints as bearers of that righteousness across time and space.
Key moments
- The story of Saint Longinus, the Roman soldier who stood at Christ's cross, has been preserved for two thousand years along with the stories of many earlier saints.
- The centurion and those with him, seeing the earthquake and other events at the crucifixion, feared greatly and confessed that Jesus was truly the Son of God; this centurion was Longinus, commander of the soldiers at Golgotha and chief of the tomb guards.
- When Jewish leaders bribed soldiers to claim Christ's disciples stole His body, they also tried to bribe Longinus, but he refused; they then decided to kill him, so he removed his military belt, was baptized by the apostles with two companions, and secretly left Jerusalem for Cappadocia.
- In Cappadocia Longinus devoted himself to fasting and prayer, and as a living witness of the resurrection he brought many pagans to the true faith; later Pilate sent soldiers to behead him, but Longinus spiritually perceived their coming, met them without revealing his identity, and hosted them in his home.
- While the soldiers slept, Longinus stood praying all night to prepare for death; in the morning he called his two companions, put on white burial shrouds, instructed his household, showed them a burial place on a small hill, then revealed his identity to the soldiers and urged them to obey their superior's order to behead him.
- A 14th-century monk named Longinus at the Kiev Caves Monastery served as gatekeeper and his heart was so pure that he always knew the thoughts with which people entered and left the monastery; his incorrupt relics are preserved in Theodosius's cave.
- After Longinus's martyrdom, a blind widow in Cappadocia whose only son died on the way to Jerusalem received a vision from Longinus promising to restore her sight and show her son in heavenly glory; he directed her to find his head on the garbage heap outside Jerusalem's wall.
- The woman dug at the garbage heap, touched the holy martyr's head, and immediately her eyes opened; she took the head, washed it, anointed it with fragrance, and placed it in her home as the most precious treasure on earth.