Feast May 6 | ||
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Lucius of Cyrene (Greek: Λούκιος ὁ Κυρηναῖος, Loukios o Kurenaios) was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, one of the founders of the Christian Church in Antioch, then part of Roman Syria. He is mentioned by name as a member of the church there, following the account King Herod's Death:
In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.
The account in Acts 13 states that the group of prophets and teachers prayed and fasted, and were inspired to commission Barnabas and Saul to undertake missionary journeys further afield.
Lucius is indicated as a founder of the Antioch church by inference from an earlier passage:
Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
He is considered to have been the first bishop of Cyrene.
There is also a Lucius mentioned in Romans 16:21. There is no way of knowing for sure whether this is the same person, but Origen identifies the Lucius in Romans with the evangelist Luke (Comm. Rom. 10.39)