Похвальное слово славным мученикам, во всем мире пострадавшим

The memory of the saints is always joyful and dear to Angels and men, because we, in imitation of them, strive in a zeal similar to theirs to love God. Swifter than fire, it embraces the hearts, convinces us to neglect the vain world and all its pleasures, detaches our soaring mind from the harmful worldly community, from the love of parents, from the goodwill of brothers, from caring for wife and children and about all property, inspires the thought so that from everything earthly it ascends to the heavenly, sends us to rejoice with the Angels, still here to stand before the Divine Throne of the Most High, while remaining in the body, imitate the disembodied and, walking on earth, philosophize the heavenly. So Paul, the teacher of the pagans, writes, exhorting (persuading): “Be wise on high... where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:2, 1). Why do those who come to Christ with all their hearts, casting aside all care, should no longer follow their own will, nor pursue carnal pleasures, nor be caught up in bodily passions? He who believes in God should not be shaken by the doubt that he will suffer deprivation during his service. A person of little faith, not having firm trust in God, is condemned as an infidel. Thus, the martyrs completely, from the bottom of their hearts, surrendered themselves to God, and therefore they already disdained death itself and all the hostile threats of their tormentors, being ready for abuse, for painful torture, for various torments of the whole body. They gave their spines for dissection, for all sorts of cutting out veins and brains. The wicked servants of the tormentors, bloodthirsty and extremely cruel, took the saints, cut their flesh with whips, and planed their ribs with their claws. Then, with a merciless heart, like ferocious beasts, they mercilessly crushed their interdorama (back) with a lead hammer; piercing the composition of the chest with sharp nails, dividing it into parts and, applying red-hot balls to the armpits, burned with great ferocity; thighs and veins were cut with swords; blood veins were opened with knives; and not a single member was left unaffected by torture, but even the bones were crushed in fury. For this, the martyrs received from God the strength to courageously endure all suffering; they were insensitive to any execution, enduring as if in someone else’s body. They even cheerfully laughed (mocked) the tormentors and caused them great irritation, saying: “If you have the most painful tortures, try them on us. But these, hitherto tested, mean nothing.” From this, inflamed and blazing with anger, like fierce beasts, they roared at the martyrs, with their screams encouraging the executioners to torment the holy bodies of the holy ascetics more intensely. They again objected to the rulers: “Where is the torment that you threatened? Your fire is cold, your tortures are weak, those who strike us are powerless, your swords are rotten wood. Nothing you have equals our jealousy; we are ready for even greater suffering.” Therefore, even after death, they act as if they were alive: they heal the sick, cast out demons, and by the power of the Lord they repel every evil influence of their tormenting dominion. For holy relics are always characterized by the miraculous (miracle-producing) grace of the Holy Spirit. Since the martyrs courageously, with great patience, confessed Christ before men, He also proclaimed them before the Father and His Angels, and promised them blessings, “whose eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and the heart of mortal man has not breathed” (1 Cor. 2:9), “into whom the angels desire to dwell” (1 Pet. 1:12). What more can we express in words? He made them His joint heirs. And I think everyone knows what Christ’s heritage is. This is the Heaven of heavens and all that is in them; this is the unapproachable light and the Throne of Glory; this is the source of the meek, all of Paradise, and the trees of Paradise, and the sweetest fruit. These are the treasures of the King Christ, and besides them there are others, a thousand times more numerous, for which we do not even know the names, because they are invisible to people. Blessed are all the saints, because they will enjoy such an inheritance and eternal coexistence with Christ; and the light with which He illuminates (shines) is brightest of all, and the glory of His essence is inscrutable (inexpressible), splendor (greatness) is unexplored, the phenomenon of the economic incarnation on earth is inexperienced. He is the perfect image of Him who gave birth to Him, the Source of life, the Creator of everything, the unshakable foundation of confessors, the crown of ascetics, the Rewarder of the victors, the Mighty God and the Prince of Peace, the plunderer of hell and the reviver of the dead. He gave strength to the holy martyrs to overcome the inhuman plans of their tormentors. He clothed His warriors in full armor for this battle, protecting them from everywhere with the shield of faith, the armor of love, the firmness of determination, and girded them with the sword of the spirit, with which they cut off the head of the enemy and destroyed the idolatrous churches to the ground; Like the lightest dust, they crushed the idols, overthrew the churches and altars of unclean sacrifices and lawless libations. Christ consigned their vile priests, together with the servants of the churches, to fire, and, having driven out the demons from their seductive statues, He cast them into Gehenna. The glorious martyrs, seeing such actions of the power of Christ, became even more zealous to suffer for the name of His power, and with their own hands they already overthrew idols, crushing all abominations on earth. Wherever they found an erected statue, they smashed it with stones and threw it into the mud, to the extreme shame and ridicule of those who honored and worshiped idols. They said to the lawless rulers and tormentors: “Behold your insensitive, deaf, powerless, blind and motionless churches, which you serve; serve the dumb, you who have the gift of speech, you whom God has honored in His image, so that you may know His sovereignty and serve Him with fear and trembling, and daily do what is pleasing to Him. For He is God, beginningless and powerful, terrible and strong, glorious and invisible. And you, having abandoned the worship of the One who created you, insulting Him, serve the creature. He created the sun to illuminate the day, so that, enjoying its light and warmth, you would always glorify its Creator, who gives you the pleasure of these blessings; and you, like blind men, having left the Creator, began to honor His creation more. In a similar way, the All-Wise Creator created the moon for you to illuminate the night, and you, like fools, recognized it as a god and began to serve it. The gracious God bore this long-sufferingly, always expecting conversion from everyone; and did not want the death of sinners, but expected their conversion, saying: “Come to Me, all you who labor” with sins “and are burdened” with unbearable burdens of lawless deeds and carnal pleasures, “and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) in eternal bliss, having granted you remission of your sins; and you will be sons of My Kingdom, and you will rest with all My chosen ones.” Such advice was offered by the martyrs to the lawless for their conversion if they wanted to be saved. But the wise (those who think falsely) mocked them, wickedly condemning their advice, because “wisdom and meaning will not enter into an evil-minded and raging soul” (Wisdom 1:4). The saints, even those scourged, spoke and did everything for their conversion, fulfilling the word of their Master: “love your enemies” and... “those who curse you” (Matthew 5:44), and, having become unforgiving and merciful to all, be like your Heavenly Father. Therefore, blessed are these ascetics of Christ, partakers of light and eternal life, pillars of faith, unions of love, living and all-encompassing foundations, sons of the honest Church of Christ, strongholds of the battlements of Heavenly Zion. They now cheer the Bride of the Savior, they adorn her splendor; they, like the queen, serve as a kind of spiritual decoration for the beautiful Church, which, having clothed itself in a robe, gilded with the many different virtues of its Master, stands brilliantly at His right hand, illuminating everyone with the radiance of the Spirit, and in its luminosity surpassing the lightness of the sensual sun, and exceeding every human concept a thousand times over. Her misguide is the Divine Apostle Paul, the wise architect, who previously ruined and devastated her, having zeal for the law, but not according to reason. Also called Saul, he brought everything into agitation, confusion and great confusion, dragging and torturing everyone who worshiped Christ, imprisoning them in prison. Breathing rebuke (threat) and threatening unprecedented murder to those who wanted to preach the gospel, he looked for them with great diligence in foreign cities, inquiring (finding out) whether there would be anyone here professing the name of Christ. So he hated the very Name, sweet and desired for all people, which saved the human race from error! And, greatly irritated by the disciples of the Word, Saul was inspired by messages from the bishops, so that if he found anyone professing the name of Christ (men and women), they would be bound to be handed over to the head of the region for torture and subjected to the death penalty. But, called from heaven by the Humane-loving Lord, he was kept on the path along which he hastily walked with the most evil intentions. It was said to him: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me” (Acts 9:4), not knowing the power of My power? Finally, restrain your untimely jealousy, and stop persecuting those who worship Me.” Saul, whose bodily eyes were blinded by the excess of incomparable light from the One speaking to him from a bright cloud, lay in amazement. Although his eyes were open, he did not see any of his companions. Having received the word within himself, like a fish, he is pulled out of the depths. Blindness served him well. Freed from worldly eminence and from Jewish customs, he followed Christ from that time on. Cast into the font of sweet waters, he heeded Christ’s calling and, renamed Paul, gave rest to Christ’s disciples and, becoming a reliable preacher and a strong pillar of faith, always taught that “This is Christ” (Acts 9:22); and after a while, out of an abundance of love, he betrayed his soul. For he loved Christ so much with all his heart that he completely plunged himself into danger, and wanting to prove the ardor of his love that he had for Him, he wrote to everyone: “Who will separate us from the love of God? Is it tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness of the body, or trouble, or a sword? and even listed it, saying: “Neither angels, nor principalities, nor lower power... neither height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 38-39). Who can now say that he so loves the One who created and saved us? Who so wholeheartedly despises the world and so easily gives up everything in the world? Will anyone be able to rise above passions and escape the bonds of vanity? He who completely renounced the very shadow of things and, leaving everything, bore the cross for Christ, who decisively says to those who want to hear: “Whoever comes to Me... and does not renounce all that he has, cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26, 33). And if someone keeps even a little of his property, then he sins, because he did not completely renounce his property, but came to Christ with distrust and doubt. Therefore, such a person must deny himself and, taking up the cross, follow Christ. Just as someone nailed to the cross by his body cannot lift anything, so let him who has been crucified by the world not be attracted by anything worldly, lest in this he become like Ananias and his wife, who hid what belonged to God. For the Apostle Paul so separated himself from worldly things in everything that he said and wrote: “The world has been crucified to me, and I myself have been completely crucified to the world” (Gal. 6:14); “And I count all my being, that I may gain Christ,” Whom I have loved (Phil. 3:8). Imitating Him, the glorious martyrs surrendered themselves to every torment, looking to the Most Wise Teacher, Leader and Victor in this battle, Who became a guide for all who wished to find the pleasure of eternal life. And having suffered willingly with great patience, behold, they will be blessed forever and ever. For we are all obliged to sing with praise the deeds of the saints, because with a courageous spirit they labored to propitiate God by giving their blood to cleanse us all; like gentle, undefiled and blameless lambs, they offered themselves as a burnt offering for us, becoming the firstfruits for the whole people, and giving up their souls as an acceptable and fragrant sacrifice to God, following the example of the three valiant youths, these guardians of the law and preachers of God. With them we will glorify the Savior of the world. To him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. You might be interested in: