A priest of the Church of Antioch
who suffered martyrdom (7 January, 312),
during
the reign of Maximinus Daza. According to
a tradition preserved,Lucian was born at
Samosata,
of pious parents, following the death of
his wealthy parents, he gave away his possessions,
and studied rhetoric, philosophy, and Scripture
in the neighbouring city of Edessa at the
school of a certain Macarius.
Early
in life Lucian took up his residence at Antioch,
where he was ordained presbyter , and where
he soon attained a commanding position as
head of the theological school in that city,
one of his students was Arius,founder of
Arianism. Though he cannot be accused of
having shared
the theological views of Paul of Samosata,
he fell under suspicion at the time of Paul's
condemnation, and was compelled to sever
his communion with the Church. This breach
with
the orthodox party lasted during the episcopates
of three bishops, Domnus, Timaeus, and Cyril,
whose administration extended from 268 to
303. It seems more likely that Lucian was
reconciled with the Church early in the episcopate
of Cyril (perhaps about 285) than in that
of his successor; otherwise it is hard tounderstand
how bishops in the Orient could have received
his pupils.
The opposition
to the allegorizing tendencies of the Alexandrines
centered in him. He rejected this system entirely
and propounded a system of literal interpretation
which dominated the Eastern Church for a long
period. Noted Scripture scholar, working to
insure that copyists made the most exact copies
possible, correcting copyist errors by comparing
against older texts in the original languages.
In the field of theology, in the minds of
practically all writers (the most notable
modern exception being Gwatkin, in his "Studies
of Arianism", London, 1900), he has the
unenviable reputation of being the real author
of the opinions which afterwards found expression
in the heresy of Arius.
In
his Christological system a compromise between
modalism and Subordinationism the Word, though
Himself the Creator of all subsequent beings
was a creature, though superior to all other
created things by the wide gulf between Creator
and creature. The great leaders in the Arian
movement (Arius himself, Eusebius, the
court bishop of Nicomedia, Maris, and Theognis)
received their training under him and always
venerated him astheir master and the founder
of their system. Despite his heterodox, Lucian
was a man of the most unexceptionable virtue;
at the height of the Arian controversy his
fame for sanctity was not less than his reputation
as a scholar.
During
the persecution of Maximinus Daza he was arrested
at Antioch and sent to Nicomedia, and spent
nine years in prison. Dragged before the emperor
as an example, he struggled to his feet and
gave a great defense of the faith. He thrown
back in the cells, given no food or water
for 14 days, then hauled before the tribunal
and interrogated; he answered all questions
with "I am a Christian." Martyr.
He was tortured, starved, and run through
with a sword in 312 at Nicomedia, Bithynia;
buried at Drepanum (later renamed Helenopolis).
The most enduring memorial of
the life of Lucian, next to the Christological
controversy which his teachings aroused was
his influence on Biblical study. Receiving
the literal sense alone he laid stress on
the need of textual accuracy and himself undertook
to revise the Septuagint on the original Hebrew.
His edition of the complete Bible, known as
the Lucian Recension was used by many churches
and by Saint Jerome during his work on the
Vulgate.
