Longinus is the name given to the Roman soldier who pierced the side of Christ with a lance during His crucifixion. That episode occurs in the Gospel of John 19:34. Longinus is also identified as the Roman centurion mentioned in the synoptic gospels who identified Jesus as the Son of God (Matthew 27:54 and Mark 15:39, as well as Luke 23:47, where the centurion calls Jesus “a righteous man”).
In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are often symbolically represented by four living creatures as described in the Book of Ezekiel (1:5–14) and the Book of Revelation (4:6–8): a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. These symbols capture the essence of the message and the character of the Gospel each Evangelist conveys.
In the Armenian Church, we celebrate the Feast Day of the Four Evangelists—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Through their divine inspiration and human experiences, these extraordinary men crafted the Gospels, Աւետարան/Avedaran in Armenian.
Cyprian was an important early Christian writer and a major theologian of the early African church. Many of his works in Latin have survived. One of his best-known works is “On the Unity of the Church.” Many of his epistles, treatises, and pastoral letters are extant. He urged Christians to recite the Lord’s Prayer every day, meditating on each phrase. He wrote a commentary on the Lord’s Prayer showing how it is the model for prayer.
