St. Celidonius, the man born blind

6th Sunday after Pascha, the Man Born Blind

The Synaxarion reading for today in the SJKP Pentecostarion (available online through pirate website Ponomar) says that the man born blind later became one of the apostles.  That means we have his name, — right? — so I went looking for his name, and it is not on the list of the 70.  Apparently St. Celidonius is not numbered with the 70, but he is maybe one of the 72.  I didn't realize there is such a thing as "the 72," so I wanted to see St. Demetrius of Rostov's synaxarion where St. Celidonius is named as a disciple.

Lives of Saints, by St. Demetrius of Rostov, has been translated into English and published and is available to us English-speakers at a fair price.  It is not one of the Holy Fathers' writings that we can find online in the public domain.  But I did find the page related to St. Celidonius, from which I copy-paste here below:

Besides the 72 holy apostles listed above, there were in those days many saints equal to them in holiness . . . Since these holy men were worthy of the title "apostle," we shall mention some of them here. 

     I. Saint Lazarus (October 17) 

Lazarus, who was dead four days and raised by the Lord, received the Holy Spirit with the apostles when tongues of fire descended at Pentecost. After Stephen’s death, when there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem, he fled the Holy Land in a sailboat, accompanied by Saint Maximin, the Lord’s disciple, and Saint Celidonius, the man born blind and granted sight by the Saviour. God guided the boat to Massilia where Lazarus proclaimed the apostolic teaching. Lazarus then became Bishop of Kition in Cyprus, and there departed this life in peace. Many years later his holy remains were found in a marble casket bearing this inscription: "Christ’s friend Lazarus, who was dead four days." As for Maximin, he became the first Bishop of Libia in Gaul, in which town he preached the doctrines of the apostles. Saint Celidonius, Maximin’s helper and fellow-preacher, died in Gaul and is listed by some historians as one of the seventy-two apostles.  

From The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, Volume 5: January, compiled by St. Demetrius of Rostov

____________________

.