Похвальная беседа о святых мучениках Иувентине и Максимине *12 , пострадавших при Юлиане Отступнике

Julian's attempts to exterminate Christianity without initiating open persecution, which only strengthens Christians. The expression of St. martyrs of grief over this state of Christianity, imprisonment for this, meetings of Christians there, unsuccessful attempts to tempt them with rewards to renounce Christ, their secret execution at night and burial by Christians. Final praise to the martyrs. 1. Recently Blessed Babyla gathered us here with three youths, 7 today a pair of holy warriors put the army of Christ into formation; then there were four martyrs, and now there are two martyrs. Their ages are different, but their faith is the same; not the same feats, but the same courage; those are ancient in time, these are young and recently killed. Such is the treasury of the Church: it contains both new and old pearls, but all have the same beauty. Their color does not fade, does not disappear with time; This shine, by its nature, does not allow the rust of old age. Material wealth passes and succumbs to the duration of time: clothes wear out, and houses are destroyed, and gold rusts, and all kinds of sensory wealth are destroyed by time and disappear; in spiritual treasures it is not so, but always and in everything the martyrs remain in the same color and youth, shining and shining with the glory of their own light. Knowing this, you do not honor the ancient or the new martyrs differently, but you honor and accept them all with the same zeal, with the same love, with the same disposition. You are not searching for time, but are looking for courage, spiritual piety, unshakable faith, inspired and ardent zeal, such as those who have gathered us today have shown. They were so seething with love for God that they were able to be adorned with the crown of martyrdom without persecution, to set up a trophy without a battle, to win a victory without a war, to receive a reward without a struggle; and how it is, I’ll tell you; but let me start the story a little higher. There was in our century one king who surpassed in wickedness all those who had come before, about whom I recently talked with you. This king, seeing that our circumstances were becoming brilliant from this, that is, from the death of the martyrs, and that not only men, but also tender children and unmarried virgins, and in general every age and every sex were striving to die for piety, was tormented and annoyed, and did not want to openly proclaim war. “Everyone,” he said, “like bees on a honeycomb, will fly to martyrdom”; and he learned this not from anyone else, but from his ancestors. In fact, the rulers fought against the Church, and the peoples constantly rebelled, when the spark of piety was still small; however, they did not extinguish it and did not destroy it, but they themselves perished, and that spark, increasing, rose to a height and embraced the entire universe, while all the faithful were killed, burned, thrown from the cliffs, drowned in the sea, given to wild beasts. They trampled coals like dirt, looked at the seas and waves as if they were meadows, strove for the sword as for a diadem and a crown, and put to shame all kinds of torment, enduring them not only courageously, but also with great joy and eagerness. Just as plants grow faster when irrigated, so our faith, when attacked, flourishes more, and when persecuted, it multiplies more, and it is not so much the moisture of water that usually makes gardens bloom, as the blood of martyrs waters the Church. Knowing all this and more, that king was afraid to openly wage war against us, so that, he said, he would not give them the opportunity to constantly erect trophies, constantly win victories and adorn themselves with crowns. What is he doing? Look at his cunning. He commanded all doctors, and soldiers, and sophists, and rhetoricians either to renounce their positions or to renounce the faith with an oath, thus directing the war against us from afar, so that if they yielded, their defeat would be worthy of laughter, due to the fact that they did not prefer piety to wealth, and if they courageously resist and overcome, then the victory would not be completely brilliant, and the trophy would not be glorious, since it is not a great thing to neglect art and craft for the sake of piety. And he doesn’t stop at this one thing; but if anyone in former times, when there were pious kings, overthrew altars, or destroyed churches, or took sacrifices, or did anything similar, then he was brought to trial and killed, and not only who did something like that, but also only accused of it. He came up with many other various pretexts to destroy everyone living in piety. And he did all this, wanting to darken the crown of martyrdom, so that his murders would continue, and killings would be carried out, and the rewards of the martyrs would not be brilliant. But in this he had no success, because the victims have to receive the crown, in any case, not by his sentence and not from his malice, but by an incorruptible court, that is, from above. 2. So, when things were in this situation, and that king was tormented by the desire to start a war against us and was afraid of defeat, then there happened to be a military feast in which the martyrs who had gathered us today took part, and, as usually happens at feasts, between many conversations, when others were talking about something else, they began to mourn the present disasters, pleased the previous time and talked among themselves and those present: is it even worth living after this, breathing and looking at this the sun, when sacred laws are trampled upon, piety is insulted, the common Master of creation suffers dishonor, when everything is filled with stench and smoke from unclean sacrifices, and we cannot even breathe clean air? Don’t let these words pass by without my attention, but imagine at what time they were spoken, and look at the reverence of those who spoke. If at a military feast, where there is whole wine, drunkenness, competition in extreme satiety and competition in intemperance and dissipation, they sighed so much and cried so much, then what were they like at home, being alone among themselves? What were those like during prayers who, at the very time of the feast, were so contrite and revealed the hearts of the apostles? Others fell and they cried; another was atheist, and they were on fire; They did not feel their own health due to the illness of their brothers, but, as if appointed as the general representatives of the universe, they grieved and cried over the disasters that befell it. These words did not remain a secret; but one of those who participated in this meal, insidious and flattering, wanting to please the king, told him everything that had been said. He, having found what he had been looking for for a long time, and seized on a pretext on which it was possible to deprive them of their martyrdom rewards, orders all their property to be taken into the treasury, accusing them of a crime for such speeches, and ordered them to be taken naked to prison. And they rejoiced and were magnified. What do we need, they said, wealth and precious clothing? Even if it were necessary for Christ to take off even the last garment - the very flesh, then we will not regret it either, but we will give it up too. Their houses were then sealed, and all their property was plundered. Just as people intending to go to a distant fatherland often send in advance the money they earned for their house, so it certainly happened with them. Since they had to go to heaven, their property was sent in advance, and the enemies themselves contributed to this sending, because not only in the form of alms the wealth given out goes to heaven, but also that which is plundered by the enemies of the faith and persecutors of those living in piety, and it is collected there. And that the latter is not less than the first, listen to what Paul says: “And you accepted the spoiling of your goods with joy, knowing that you have in heaven a better and lasting possession” (Heb. 10:34). So the martyrs were in prison, and the whole city flocked there. Although horrors, threats and great dangers lay ahead for those who would come and talk and communicate with them in speeches, the fear of God rejected all this, and many then became martyrs for their sake for communicating with them, despising real life; with a gathering of many people, constant psalmody, sacred all-night vigils, and interviews filled with spiritual edification were performed there; and when the church was closed, then the prison became a church. Not only those who came from without, but also those who were within received the greatest lessons of virtue and chastity from the patience and faith of these saints. Hearing about this, the king was even more tormented, and, wanting to bring them to a fall and destroy this zeal, he sent to them with evil intent some wicked and cunning people, who, often sitting with them when they found them alone, and offering advice as if from themselves, and not on behalf of the king, convinced them to abandon piety and turn to wickedness; in this way, they said, you will not only remove the danger that threatens you, but also receive greater honor and greater power, having thus tamed the king’s anger; Don't you see that your other comrades did the same? But they answered: for this very reason we will stand courageously, to offer ourselves, as if as a sacrifice, for the fall of those. Our Lord is humane: He knows how, having accepted even one sacrifice, to be reconciled with the entire universe. And as the three youths said: “And at this time we have neither prince, nor prophet, nor leader, nor burnt offering, nor sacrifice,... there is no place for us to offer a sacrifice to You and find mercy, but with a contrite heart and a humble spirit, let us be accepted” (Dan. 3:38-39), so these martyrs, seeing the altars destroyed, the churches locked, the priests driven out, all the faithful persecuted, tried to offer themselves to the Lord for everyone, and, leaving the military ranks, hastened to join the choirs of the angels. If we, they said, do not die now, then we will certainly die a little later and experience the same thing; It is better to die for the King of angels than for a man so wicked; It is better to take up arms for the higher fatherland than for the lower one, which is trampled under foot; here, even if someone dies, he will not receive from the king anything worthy of his zeal: after all, what can a person give to someone who has already died? Often, without even worthy of burial, he is left to lie for the dogs to prey on. And if we die for the King of Angels, we will receive bodies with greater glory, rise with great splendor, and receive much greater rewards and crowns through our labors. So, let's take spiritual weapons; We don’t need arrows and bows, we don’t need any other sensual weapons; Language is enough for us. Truly, the lips of the saints are a quiver; they constantly strike one after another at the head of the devil. 3. This and similar things were reported to the king; but he did not lag behind, but began again to offer seduction through those. This is how this cunning, insidious and clever man acted in order to do evil, so that if the martyrs, weakened, submitted, he would bring them out before the eyes of everyone and finally force them to make a sacrifice; and if they invariably showed strong courage and valiantly stood their ground in the fight, then their victory would not be visible, but he would accuse them and execute them as if for a crime. But He who reveals the deep and hidden did not allow the intrigues to hide and remain invisible to deceit. And just as then the Egyptian wife, who seized Joseph in her room, in great silence hoped to hide from all people, but did not hide from the vigilant eye, and not only from him, but also from the people who lived after, and what she said to Joseph without witnesses was proclaimed throughout the entire universe - so this king also hoped to hide, speaking in prison through sent advisers, but did not hide; on the contrary, everyone later learned the intrigues, deceit, victory and trophy. When a lot of time had been spent and passed, and many days had not weakened their jealousy, but had further strengthened their zeal and made many imitators of them, the king finally ordered them to be taken to the place of execution at midnight. And these lamps were brought out into the darkness and beheaded. Then their heads became even more terrible for the devil than when they uttered a voice, like the head of John, which was not as terrible when it spoke as when it lay silently on a platter, because the blood of saints has a voice that is not heard by the ears, but embraces the conscience of the murderers. After the blessed death of the martyrs, those who, exposing their own lives to danger, strive to acquire such remains, carried away these heroes, and themselves became living martyrs. Although they were not beheaded, they, having decided in advance to endure this, rushed to acquire the bodies of the martyrs. Those who were present and worthy of seeing these newly murdered bodies say that when they lay next to each other before burial, the same grace shone on their faces as, according to Luke, Stephen had when he had to defend himself before the Jews (Acts 6:15), and there was no one who would then stand before them without fear. So the very sight amazed everyone who looked, and everyone cried out with the words of David: “inseparable in your life, and in your death you were not separated” (2 Sam. 1:23). They were confessors together, and lived in prison, and were taken to the place of execution, and laid down their heads, and one tomb contains the bodies of both, just as one monastery will receive these bodies again in heaven, when they are raptured with greater glory. These martyrs are worthy of being called pillars, and rocks, and towers, and lamps, and together with calves. Like pillars, they support the Church; like towers they enclose it; like rocks, they repel any attack, bringing great silence to those inside; like lamps, they drove away the darkness of wickedness, and like calves, soul and body with equal zeal attracted the good yoke of Christ. Let us constantly come to them, touch their tomb and embrace their remains with faith, in order to receive some blessing from here. Just as warriors, pointing out the wounds they received from their enemies, speak boldly with the king, so they, carrying their severed heads in their hands and displaying them, can easily receive whatever they want from the King of Heaven. So, with great faith, with great zeal, we will come there, so that from the sight of these holy monuments, and from the thought of exploits, and from everything, having received many great treasures, we can spend our real life in accordance with the will of God, and arrive at that port with great profit, receive the Kingdom of Heaven, by the grace and love of mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor and worship, forever and ever. Amen. Pronounced in Antioch shortly after the conversation about St. Vavil and before the fourth conversation about Lazarus, on the day of memory of St. Iuventin and Maximin, which took place, as can be seen from here, at the end of January. That is, Urvan, Prilydian and Epollonius, whose memory is celebrated together with the memory of St. Vavily. You might be interested in: