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Icons of St. Laurence,
Archdeacon & Great-Martyr of Old Rome
Feast Day: August 10
St. Laurence was broiled to
death for Christ in the city of Rome about 250 A.D.
Top Icon: Russian, perhaps
18th c.
Next
Icon: by the hand of Aidan Hart, Oecum. Patriarchate, UK.
Next
Icon: St. Alexis on l., St. Laurence on rt. By the hand of Aidan Hart,
UK.
Next: Fresco of unknown
provenance with Greek inscription.
Next: Part of a 12th c. icon
from Mt. Sinai. Click here to see
the whole icon.
Next: Icon from Holy
Transfiguration Monastery in Boston.
Next: Icon of unknown
provenance, but with Greek inscription.
Next Icon: of Sts. Laurence
& Stephen, Holy Transfiguration Monastery Boston.
Next
Icon: of unknown provenance.
Final
Icon: of unknown provenance, apparently an ancient mosaic icon.
Old English liturgical books
contain the following Sequence chant for the Liturgy on the feast of
St. Laurence, Old Sarum Rite Missal (c) 1998 St. Hilarion Press:
"With the robe of joyfulness,
alleluya,
Our Lord hath this day clothed His soldier, Laurence.
May Thy faithful’s joyous assemblage clap their hands
More cheerfully than they have heretofore.
Today the noble martyr offered pleasing sacrifice to God,
Today he, being grievously tested,
Endured unto the end the torment of his fire;
And shrank not from offering his limbs to punishments most grievous.
Before the ruler he is summoned,
And settlement is made upon the Church’s hidden holdings.
But he by words enticing is unmoved, and is unshaken
By the torments of the ruler’s avarice.
Valerian is laughed to scorn,
And the Levite’s liberal hand,
When he is asked for payments,
Giveth to the gathered poor.
For he was their minister of charity,
Giving them abundance from his means.
Therefore the prefect is enraged,
And a glowing bed made ready.
The torment-bearing instrument,
The gridiron of his suffering,
Roasteth his very viscera,
But he laugheth it to scorn.
The martyr sweateth in his agony,
In hopes of crown and recompense
Which is allotted those with faith,
Who struggle for the sake of Christ.
The court of heaven rejoiceth
For his warfare-waging,
For he hath prevailed this day
Against the lackeys of wickedness.
That we, then, may attain the gift of life,
By this our patron, be glad, O our choir,
Singing in the church upon his feast-day
A joyful alleluya."
From the Mass for the Octave
(Apodosis) of St. Laurence on Aug. 17:
"O Laurence, thou David, thou
great-martyr,
Thou mighty warrior and judgment-seat of the Emperor,
Thou didst set at nought the blood-stained hands
Of thy tormentors.
Thou wast a follower of Him Who is desirable and mighty,
Who with His hand alone can conquer the cruel despot’s strongholds,
And Whose love maketh His warriors holy,
And generous with their blood.
Insofar as thou sawest Him in the loss of this present life,
Thou didst scorn the emblems of the Cæsar, and laugh the judge’s
threats to scorn.
In vain it is the headsman rendeth thy fingernails,
It is in vain the pyre’s burning thy gridiron doth enfold.
The impious man, the City’s prefect grieveth,
Conquered by a broiled fish—the food of Christ.
This honeycomb of the Lord rejoiceth, living with Him,
Rising again with Him, filled to the full with Christ.
O Laurence, wreathed with laurel amongst warriors,
O unconquerable David of the everlasting King:
Ever entreat with Him to pardon His lowest servants,
O martyr and mighty foot-soldier!"
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