🧙♀️Today's commemoration, according to the traditional Roman Martyrology, refers to Saint Cyprian of Antioch and Saint Justina, not the more famous Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage. Tradition recounts that Cyprian was a powerful pagan magician who, while attempting to use his sorcery to corrupt the young and devout Christian Justina, saw his demons repeatedly thwarted by the sign of the cross and her unwavering faith. Deeply impacted by the power of Christ, which surpassed his magic, Cyprian converted, burned his books of sorcery, was baptized, and eventually became a bishop. During the persecution of Diocletian, he and Justina were arrested and, together, bore witness to their faith until the end, receiving the crown of martyrdom. Their story is a powerful testament to the victory of faith over the forces of evil.
📖Introit (Ps 36:39, 1)But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and He is their protector in the time of trouble. Ps. Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity. ℣. Glory be to the Father.
📜Epistle (Heb 10:32-38)
Brethren: Call to mind the former days, wherein, being illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions. And on the one hand indeed, by reproaches and tribulations, were made a gazingstock; and on the other, became companions of them that were used in such sort. For you both had compassion on them that were in bands, and took with joy the being stripped of your own goods, knowing that you have a better and a lasting substance. Do not therefore lose your confidence, which hath a great reward. For patience is necessary for you; that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little and a very little while, and He that is to come, will come, and will not delay. But my just man liveth by faith.
✝️Gospel (Lk 12:1-8)
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: "Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed: nor hidden, that shall not be known. For whatsoever things you have spoken in darkness, shall be published in the light: and that which you have spoken in the ear in the chambers, shall be preached on the housetops. And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will shew you whom you shall fear: fear ye him, who after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? Yea, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows. And I say to you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God."
🤔Reflections
✍️Christ's exhortation not to fear those who kill the body resonates in the lives of martyrs like Saint Cyprian and Saint Justina. They understood that true death is that of the soul. Saint Augustine, meditating on this passage, teaches that the fear of God, who can condemn both body and soul, must override any earthly fear, for to confess Christ in the face of the threat of death is to affirm Life itself before Him who is Life. (Sermon 6). The patience mentioned in the Epistle is, for Saint John Chrysostom, the virtue that sustains us while awaiting the promise, transforming present suffering into a means to attain the eternal reward; the martyrs, by joyfully accepting the loss of their goods and their very lives, demonstrated possession of this "better and a lasting substance." (Homily 21 on Hebrews). Saint Ambrose reinforces that God's provident care, which extends even to sparrows and the hairs of our head, should give us absolute confidence to confess the faith, knowing that no sacrifice made for Him is forgotten and that our value in His eyes infinitely transcends any worldly estimation. (Exposition on the Gospel of Luke, Book VII).
📖When comparing the Gospel of Luke with the parallel text in Saint Matthew (Mt 10:26-33), we notice that Matthew offers a more explicit framing of the nature of the soul. While Luke says to fear "him, who after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell," Matthew details: "rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." This distinction underscores the immortality of the soul, which cannot be destroyed by human persecutors, reinforcing the central message about what should truly be feared. Matthew also adds Jesus' warning that He came not to bring peace, but a sword, and the division within families because of faith, thus contextualizing the social cost of discipleship more dramatically.
✉️The writings of Saint Paul deepen the themes of today's liturgy. The statement "my just man liveth by faith" (Heb 10:38), central to the Epistle, is the heart of Pauline theology, developed in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. The call to confess Christ before men (Lk 12:8) finds its soteriological echo in Romans 10:9-10: "For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Furthermore, the joy in the loss of goods and in suffering (Heb 10:34) is a recurring theme for Paul, who glories in his weaknesses and persecutions, for "when I am weak, then am I powerful" (2 Cor 12:10) and affirms that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us" (Rom 8:18).
🇻🇦The documents of the Church corroborate the perennial truth celebrated in the lives of the martyrs. The Roman Catechism, in explaining the article of the Creed on "life everlasting," grounds the hope that motivated martyrs like Cyprian and Justina to despise temporal death. The virtue of fortitude, as detailed by moral theology based on Saint Thomas Aquinas, is presented not as mere audacity but as the rational firmness of the soul that clings to the greater good (God) even under the threat of the greatest physical evil (death). Pontifical documents throughout the centuries warn against philosophies that exalt earthly life as the absolute good, thereby emptying martyrdom of its supernatural meaning and directly contradicting Christ's command to fear only Him who has power over eternal life and death.
🧐See English version of the critical articles here.