Похвальные слова о св. мученике Романе

The first word of praise about the holy martyr Roman 9. Communion between the martyrs and all other members of the Church through the power of love that unites everyone. Rejoicing is more difficult than compassion; it destroys envy. Love is higher even than martyrdom. St. Roman combined love with martyrdom; in times of severe persecution he encourages and strengthens Christians; the devil cuts off his tongue so that the believers would be deprived of his instructions, and he himself would not confirm his admonitions with death and would suffer, not being able to strengthen those who are falling, but God gives the martyr even without a tongue the gift of speech, as always He turns the evil intentions of the devil into benefits for man. This miracle is proof of the possibility of the resurrection of the body, like the miracle of Aaron's rod. An exhortation to zeal for salvation, because God will undoubtedly save, if only people fulfill what is needed on their part for this. 1. Again the memory of the martyrs and again a holiday and spiritual triumph. They suffered and we rejoice; they labored, and we rejoice; theirs is the crown, and the glory is common, or - better - the glory of the entire Church. How, you say, can this be? So that the martyrs are our parts and members; but “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; If one member is glorified, all members rejoice with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). The head is crowned and the rest of the body rejoices. One becomes a winner at the Olympic Games - and the whole people rejoices and accepts him with great praise. If at the Olympic Games those who did not participate in labor at all receive such pleasure, then all the more so can this be the case with devotees of piety. We are the legs, and the martyrs are the head; but “the head cannot say to the feet, ‘Your nature is not necessary’” (1 Cor. 12:21). The members are glorified, but the superiority of glory does not alienate them from union with the rest of the parts: then they are especially glorious when they do not deviate from union with us; so the eye, being lighter than the rest of the body, then retains its characteristic glory when it is not separated from the rest of the body. And what am I talking about martyrs? If their Lord was not ashamed to be our head, then all the more they are not ashamed to be our members, because love is rooted in them, and love usually unites and binds what is divided and does not distinguish too much between virtues. Therefore, just as they sympathize with us in our sins, so we rejoice with them in their exploits. This is what Paul commanded to do, saying: “Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). But it is not difficult to cry with those who weep, and to rejoice with those who rejoice is not very easy: we more easily sympathize with those who are in misfortune than we rejoice with those who are prosperous. There, the very property of misfortune is sufficient to move even a stone towards compassion; but here, with prosperity, envy and ill will do not allow the not very wise to be a participant in pleasure. Truly, just as love unites and binds what is divided, so envy divides what is united. Therefore, I ask, let us try to rejoice in those who are prosperous in order to cleanse our souls of envy and ill will - nothing drives away this serious and intractable disease better than rejoicing at those who live virtuously. Listen to how high Paul is in both respects: “who,” he says, “is faint, with whom I would not also faint? Who is offended, for whom I would not burn” (2 Cor. 11:29)? He did not say: “and I am not grieved,” but: “I was not burned,” wanting to be inflamed in a word to represent to us the intensity of his sorrow. And again, in another epistle: “you have become reign without us,” he says, “oh, that you would reign, so that we too might reign with you” (1 Cor. 4:8)! And again: “now we are alive, while you stand in the Lord” (1 Thess. 3:8). A man who was caught up to the third heaven, ascended to paradise, participated in unspeakable mysteries and received such boldness before God, did not really feel these benefits if he did not see his brothers being saved with him. He knew, truly knew, that nothing is greater than love and is not equal to it, not even martyrdom itself, which is the highest of all blessings; and how, listen. Love makes disciples of Christ even without martyrdom, but martyrdom without love could not do this. Where can you see this? From the very words of Christ; He told his disciples: “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Behold, love without martyrdom makes disciples. And that martyrdom without love not only does not make disciples, but also does not bring any benefit to the one who endures, listen to Paul, who says: “If I... give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good” (1 Cor. 13:3). 2. That is why I especially love this saint who has gathered us today, Blessed Roman, because along with his martyrdom he showed great love; That is why his holy tongue was cut off. Truly, it is not superfluous to examine why the devil did not lead him to torture, execution and torment, but cut out his tongue. He did this not in vain, but with great deceit: after all, this is an insidious beast and does and erects everything against our salvation. Let us examine why he decided to cut off his tongue; but let’s take the conversation a little higher: in this way we will recognize God’s love for mankind, and the patience of the martyr, and the malice of the devil, and having known God’s love for mankind, we will thank the Lord, having recognized the patience of the martyr, we will imitate a servant similar to us, and having understood the malice of the devil, we will turn away from this enemy. For this reason, God gave us to understand his machinations, so that, having hated him more, we would more easily defeat him. To find out his plans, listen to what Paul says about the adulterer. In his letter to the Corinthians, he says this: “confirm your love for him, so that we will not be offended by Satan: for we do not understand his plans” (2 Cor. 2:8,11). What is the reason why he cut off the martyr’s tongue? Let me start the story a little higher. A cruel war was once instituted against the Churches: it was not barbarians who raided cities, nor any foreigners, but those themselves, who apparently were the leaders of our universe, dealt with their subordinates more harshly and ferociously than all barbarians, enemies and tyrants; not only freedom, and the fatherland, and property, and real life were then in danger, but the Kingdom of Heaven, and the prepared blessings, and immortal life, and the confession of Christ. Some new method of captivity was invented; They did not expel them from the local city, but they tried to deprive the free Jerusalem above, and forced everyone to sacrifice their soul on the altars, to renounce their Lord with an oath, to submit to the tyranny of demons, to serve the destroyers and enemies of our salvation - demons, which was more painful and unbearable than thousands of deaths and any kind of hell for the souls of Christ-loving souls. Then, when many were drowned, and the storm intensified, and many suffered shipwreck, this blessed Romanus, having passed among them, decided not to immediately abandon himself to dangers, but in advance those who were frightened, lost in spirit, betraying their own salvation - he gathered, encouraged and prepared for a new struggle, restoring those who had fallen, and strengthening those who stood with prayers, admonitions, and advice, philosophizing a lot about the future and about real things, proving that these are temporary, and those are eternal, contrasting rewards to labor, crowns to torture, rewards to suffering, teaching what the present life is and what the future life is, and how great the difference is between one and the other, and that we must die in any case, even if we do not end our lives in this way, then, in any case, according to the necessary law of nature, after a little time, we will part with these bodies. With such and similar exhortations, he strengthened weak hands, strengthened weak knees (Heb. 12:12), brought back fugitives, drove away fear, removed despondency, inspired courage, made brave ones instead of fearful ones, instead of chamois and deer - lions breathing with great strength, built up the army of Christ, turned our shame on the heads of our enemies. Therefore, the devil, seeing that a change had suddenly taken place, and that those who yesterday and the day before had feared and trembled at him, were now laughing at him and acting boldly, speaking out against dangers, throwing themselves into torment, and recognizing the culprit, he left everyone and finally breathed with anger at him, moving all his strength and fury against this blessed head. And what does he do? Look at his malice. He did not lead the martyr to torture, did not cut off his head, because the passage of time had taught him that all this was in vain and in vain: this not only did not stop the jealousy of the believers, but strained it even more, making it stronger and more ardent. I, he says, spread hot coals, and they seemed to fall on roses; he lit a fire, and they rushed, as it were, into sources of cool waters; scraped the ribs, cut deep furrows and drew streams of blood, and they flaunted, as if sprinkled with gold on all sides; I cast them down from the rapids and plunged them into the sea, and they, as if not descending into an abyss, but ascending to heaven itself, were in such a state of admiration and delight, and as if rejoicing at a sacred celebration and playing in a green meadow, each of them threw themselves into torment, as if they were not accepting torment, but spring flowers and receiving crowns, and with the excess of their jealousy they prevented my torment. What, he says, needs to be done now? Will I cut off his head? But what he desires will happen, and the disciples will receive greater admonition through his deeds, just as he admonished; that the death of martyrs is not death, but life that has no end, that for its sake it is especially necessary to endure everything and that death must be despised. So, if I cut off the head, and he endures it courageously, then by deeds he will teach them even more clearly that this is how one should despise death, and will even more encourage their souls and, having died, will breathe into them even greater jealousy. Therefore, he cut off his tongue so that the disciples of the martyr, having lost the voice they enjoyed, being left without advice and without exhortation, would become more timid and again fall into their former despondency, not having someone who animated them, excited them and armed them. 3. And look at the wickedness of the devil. Herod cut off John's head, but this one cut off not his head, but only his tongue. Why? Out of great malice and cruelty. If, he says, I cut off his head and he dies, he will go away without seeing the death of his brothers; and I want to make him a witness to the falls and misfortunes of his own warriors, so that he will languish in agony, seeing those falling, but not being able to give them a hand and not being able to offer advice, as before, since his voice disappears along with his tongue. But “he stymied the wise in their deceit” (1 Cor. 3:19) turned this trick on his head: the devil not only did not deprive them of advice, but also did so that they received greater admonition and began to use more spiritual instruction. When he insisted on this, he finally called in a doctor to cut off, and became an executioner instead of a doctor, not correcting the diseased member, but damaging the healthy one; but, having torn out his tongue, he could not tear out his voice along with it. The bodily tongue was cut off, but the tongue of grace flew into the mouth of the blessed one; nature lost its member, being forced to do so by iron, and grace did not allow the voice to be lost at the same time - which is why the disciples began to use more spiritual instruction, listening not to the human voice, as before, but to some divine, and spiritual, and higher of our nature; and everyone flocked, angels above and people below, everyone wanting to see the mouth without a tongue and hear the one who spoke like that. It was so wonderful and extraordinary that the mouth spoke without a tongue, bringing the devil much shame, and the martyr much glory, and the disciples great consolation and encouragement to patience. This is God’s custom from ancient times and from the very beginning: what the devil plans against us, He turns on his head and arranges for our salvation. Look: he expelled man from paradise, and God opened heaven to him; he deprived him of earthly dominion, and God gave him the Kingdom of Heaven and placed our nature on the royal throne. So He always gives blessings greater than those which the devil tries to take away. And He does this in order to force him to be slower in his intrigues against us, and to teach us never to be afraid of his tricks, as happened here with the martyr. The devil hoped to deprive him of his voice, but God gave him a much better and more excellent one, because it was not the same thing to speak with a tongue and without a tongue: that was a natural and common thing for everyone, but this was supernatural and belonging only to him alone. Even if the martyr had remained speechless after the cutting off of his tongue, even then all the conditions of the struggle would have been fulfilled and the crown would have been ready, because the greatest defeat of the devil and its clear proof was the very cutting off of his tongue. If you, wicked and wicked, were not afraid of your tongue, then why did you cut it off? Why did you not leave the weapons of battle, but closed the lists? Just as if someone, wanting to compete in a fight, but having received serious wounds, and finally being unable to resist, ordered the hands of his opponent to be cut off, and thus began to beat him, then no other proof would be needed to award victory to the one whose hands were cut off - just as in relation to a martyr, cutting off the tongue was the clearest of all proofs of victory over the devil. Although the tongue was mortal, since it inflicted immortal wounds on the devil, the devil was therefore full of anger against him, exposing himself to greater shame, and giving the martyr the brightest crown, because it is as amazing as it is to see a tree without a root and a river without a source, so is a voice without a tongue. 4. Where are those now who do not believe in the resurrection of bodies? So the voice died and was resurrected, and in one moment of time both happened. This is even much more than the resurrection of bodies, because there the nature of bodies remains, and only their combination is destroyed, but here the very foundation of the voice was destroyed, and yet it again became even brighter. If you take away the muzzle from the flute, then this instrument will then be useless; but the spiritual flute is not like that - on the contrary, even deprived of language, it was not only not voiceless, but emitted a song even more euphonious and mysterious and with more amazing art. Likewise, from the zither, if someone takes away only the ring, then the artist becomes idle, the art is useless, the instrument is worthless; but here there is nothing like that, but everything is the opposite. The mouth was the zither, the tongue was the ring, the soul was the artist, confession was the art; and, although the ring was taken away, that is, the tongue, however, neither the artist, nor the art, nor the instrument became useless, but all showed their inherent strength. Who did this? Who showed such wonderful and extraordinary deeds? God, who alone works miracles, about whom David says: “O Lord our Lord! How wonderful is Your name throughout the whole earth! For Your greatness is exalted above the heavens. From the mouths of babes and sucklings You have ordained praise” (Ps. 8:2-3). But then - from the lips of a baby and pissing, and now - from the lips of those without tongues; then nature was not ripe, and now lips, devoid of tongue; then in the children there was a tender root, but a perfect fruit, but here the very root was destroyed, and this did not prevent the birth of the fruit, since the fruit of the tongue is voice. The later miracles are more amazing than the earlier ones. So that we do not refuse to believe these miracles, for this purpose they were preceded by those so that we would not be embarrassed by the latter, having accustomed our minds to the former; and for this reason new miracles were performed, so that we would believe those hidden and ancient ones with the help of those that were obvious and recent. So Aaron’s rod once sprouted, just as the mouth of the martyr has now sprouted. But why then did Aaron’s rod grow? Because they dishonored the priest. Why did the mouth of the martyr now grow? Because they blasphemed the great bishop, Jesus Christ. Look at the similarity and superiority in the miracle. Just as that rod, not being connected to the root and not extracting moisture from the earth, deprived of the nutrition supplied to it and having lost its fertile power, suddenly showed fruit, so here too the voice, having lost its root and having no strength from this instrument, suddenly grew in dry and barren lips. In this there is affinity, and in the other superiority, because there is a great difference between one and the other fruit. This one was sensual, and this one was spiritual, and he opened the very heavens to the one who then uttered this voice. Let us rejoice in all this together with the martyr, let us glorify God, who performed such miracles, let us imitate the patience of a servant like us, let us thank the Master for His grace, let us accept in what has been said sufficient consolation in temptations, and, marveling at the power of the God who created us and His care, we will imagine everything that is needed from us, and what is needed from Him will certainly follow. Even if people, even demons, even if the devil himself strikes us, those who are at enmity against us will not succeed in anything, if only we show our own zeal and represent everything that should be represented from us. Thus, here too we will gain God’s help and in the future life we ​​will receive great glory and salvation, which may we all be worthy of by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor and power, forever and ever. Amen. The second word about the holy martyr Roman 10. Storm-like persecution of the Church; courage of St. Romana in various torments; the child, when asked, recognizes the truth of Christianity; St. Roman’s tongue has been cut off, but he continues to speak even without a tongue. Macedonia exposes this miracle and proves the possibility of the gift of tongues. Picture of the meeting of St. The novel of the persecutor, his prayer to the Lord and his speech to the tormentor, not interrupted by cutting off his tongue. 1. Gymnastic exercises give the bodies strength and knowledge of the art of athletes; and memories of martyrs arm souls against the tricks of demons and teach them to fight them. Showing the strength of the ascetics and the unyielding struggle against torture, they give courage to piety, presenting in the stories of torment, as if in place of the exploits, the field passed by each martyr. Such is the memory of the ascetic crowned today. In fact, who would not boldly take the field against the devil, instructing his soul in the exploits of a martyr who was not shaken by many such dangers? Then the great tyranny of wickedness danced around the world; life was like a sea rocked from the very depths; huge waves of the sea overflowed onto the land, and a strong storm of wickedness poured on the ship of piety from all sides, so that among her many pilots died, and not a small number of swimmers drowned, and everything was filled with bitter fear and shipwreck. Kings breathed stronger than the storm, tyrants raised terrible waves, the thrones of rulers shook, judges proclaimed the renunciation of Christ, legislators threatened cruel punishments, husbands were kidnapped to demonic sacrifices, wives were drawn to the abomination of the altars, and virgins were dragged to this madness, priests were handed over to exile and murder, the faithful were expelled from the sacred enclosures. The martyr armed himself for such a great battle, and he opposed his soul to such dangers, laughing at this struggle as at some kind of battle with a shadow, and trampling the judges with faith like dust on a lists, he aroused the soul of the then judge, stopping the race he had planned against the Church. For this, the valiant man was immediately taken away for execution, and although many different torments were used, the martyr was likened to a zither, driven by the ring of torture to make sounds; the executioners surrounding him crushed his body, and he, like copper, receiving blows, uttered a song of piety; hanging on a tree, they tormented him, and he welcomed this tree as a tree of life; they tore the cheeks of the righteous man like ribs, and he preached, as if receiving many lips, and shamed the enemy with a new defeat. When he saw that the judge was calling him to serve demons, he asked to bring a child from the marketplace to make him a judge of the judge’s demands, and the brought child was asked a question about this subject. Child, he said, is it right to worship God, or the gods they call? Great is the excellence of the wisdom of the martyr: he makes the child the judge of the judge; and he immediately cast his vote for Christ, so that it would be obvious that the children are smarter than the wicked judges, or better, so that the martyr would appear not only as a martyr, but also as a leader of the martyrs. However, this did not weaken the judge’s fury, but immediately the martyr, together with the child, was seized in a block; the torture in the block was followed by prison, and after it a sentence that assigned various executions to the ascetics: he sentenced the child to death, and the martyr to cutting off his tongue. Who has ever heard of this type of judgment? The judges scourge the defendants, forcing them to admit what they know about themselves; and this wicked judge cuts off his tongue, forcing him to remain silent about what he knows about himself. O cruel invention of deception! I could not, he says, defeat the soul philosophizing about Christ; at least I will cut off the tongue that speaks about Christ. Cut off your tongue, O tormentor, so that you may know that nature preaches about Christ even without a tongue; Pluck the tongue out of your mouth, so that you may know that He who promised the gifts of tongues is true. The instrument of the tongue was cut off, and the word poured out even more powerfully, freed from the tongue, as if from some obstacle. A new and unusual spectacle: a corporeal one speaks incorporeally with corporeal ones. Thus, the song of the prophet befits this martyr: “our lips are filled with joy and our tongue with joy” (Ps. 125:2); The lips were filled with joy, having brought a new sacrifice to Christ - the tongue; the tongue was enveloped in great joy, appearing as a martyr, the forerunner of the martyr. Oh, language that preceded the soul in the hosts of martyrs! O lips that gave birth to the hidden martyr! Oh, the tongue that had the mouth of the altar! O lips that have sacrificed the tongue! No one knew, valiant man, that you had a church in your mouth, a church in which you slain an unusual lamb - a tongue of one blood. 2. What kind of speaker will worthily crown your virtues? You received a tongue from nature, but you raised it to be a martyr; You received the mouth, the storehouse of the tongue, but you made from the mouth an altar for the tongue; you received a ring to make sounds, but you showed it as an ear being cut off; you received a tongue, a servant of words, but you sacrificed it to Christ as a blameless sheep. What decent name will I use to name your tongue? What name will I decorate your tongue with? The executioners applied iron to him, but he, like the bound Isaac, did not jump back, but, lying in his mouth, as if on an altar, he joyfully accepted the blow, teaching the tongues of people that they should not only speak for the sake of Christ, but also be truncated. You, valiant man, have won an honor equal to the sacrifice of the patriarch by offering the only-begotten branch of the tongue instead of the only-begotten son. Therefore, it is wonderful that Christ planted another tongue in you, because he found you a good cultivator of the former; He wonderfully gave you an incorporeal language, because a carnal one was not appropriate for the angelic soul; He beautifully rewarded you for your tongue: you sacrificed your tongue to the Lord, and He paid for it with an ornate voice; and a mutual agreement occurred between the tongue and Christ: the tongue is cut off for Christ, and Christ speaks instead of the tongue. Where is Macedonius now, fighting against the Comforter, who gave the gift of tongues? And that I am not lying when I add grace-filled gifts to the Divine Comforter, Blessed Paul is our witness, who now appeals to your attention: “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He pleases” (1 Cor. 12:11); He speaks as He pleases, and not as He is commanded. But so that, by making any additions to these words, we do not overwhelm your memory with too many, let us remember this one strong saying about the Comforter, and thus we will leave here, despising those, but for now condescending to those who are mistaken and worshiping the Divinity of the Comforter. So, the prophetic trumpet, foreshadowing the universal agreement about Christ, said: “for they know Me, even from the least of them even to the greatest of them” (Jer. 31:34), and “every tongue of God will confess” to the true one (Is. 45:23). The prophet, as I said, envelops every language with the network of knowledge of God; and today we will listen to a tongueless speaker who defends piety, because he, like some zither, without a ring, glorifies the Creator. So, let blessed Romanus say: “my tongue is a scribbler’s reed” (Ps. 44:2). What language? Not the one that the iron took away, but the one that the grace of the Spirit sculpted, because when the tongue was pulled out, the grace of the Spirit took its place. The apostles also had tongues, but in order for the power of the Acting One to appear, the clay lay inactive, and the fire of heaven spoke. The Scripture of Moses also had an image of that which is higher than words: he has a bush and fire. The apostolic fire in the bush prefigured the sounds of preaching and the voice is given to the soulless, so that they will believe him when he touches the animated instruments. If the touch of this fire made even the soulless speaking, then shouldn’t it, having filled the rational souls, with its touch extract from them the most harmonious song? The glorious Romanus was also a participant in this grace, who, even after his tongue was cut out, denounced the tormentor with the clearest voice. This tormentor would not have hastened to cut off his tongue if he had not been afraid of the currents of denunciation, if he had not been afraid of the flow of preaching, if he had not hoped to pacify the waves of evangelical eloquence. But let's see what made the tormentor go to such insolence. 3. Once upon a time, a wicked man who had made a sacrifice to demons, filled with the smoke and stench of the victims and defiled by drops of wickedness, hastily walked to the church and, carrying a bloody ax in front of him, looked for a bloodless altar for the lawless sacred rite. But the fury of the tormentor did not hide from the martyr: immediately, running out into the vestibule, he holds back the already rushing flood of wickedness, and like a skilled helmsman, seeing that the sea is rushing towards the bow of the ship, does not remain inactive, but quickly runs across the entire ship and, setting the stern in motion, places the ship directly against the waves and, lifting the part of it that was in danger, cuts through a huge wave and with some art plows the troubled sea - so did the blessed Roman. When the sea of ​​idolatry roared with blasphemy, and raged against the church ship, and spewed out foam of blood on the altars, he alone armed himself against the raging sea and, seeing that the ship was in extreme danger, awakened the Master who was on the ship, awakened Him, who had fallen asleep in the sleep of long-suffering. He sees the sea, disturbed by contrary winds, and utters the words of the distressed disciples: “Master, save, we are perishing” (Luke 8:24); sea robbers surround the ship, wolves besiege the flock, thieves undermine your palace, prodigal songs resound with your bride, again the serpent destroys the wall of paradise, the main stone of the Church shakes; but you cast the gospel anchor from heaven, and strengthen the shaken stone: “Master, save, we are perishing.” The martyr shares a common danger: he calls out to the Lord with boldness, and directs the flow of his tongue against the tormentor. Stop, tyrant, he says, this mad rush; know the extent of your powerlessness; honor the limits of the Crucified One; and the limits of the Crucified One are not the walls of the church, but the ends of the universe; shake off the darkness of fury; look at the earth and understand the weakness of your nature; look at the sky and think about the greatness of the struggle; reject the powerless help of demons; Consider that the demons, struck by the cross, present you as the defender of their altars. Why are you chasing the elusive? Why do you shoot arrows into the infinite? Is God confined to walls? Deity is unlimited. Is it possible to see our Lord with our eyes? He is invisible and formless in essence, but is depicted and is visible by humanity. Does He dwell in wood and stone and sell His food for an ox and a sheep? Does the altar mediate agreements with Him? This is the greedy begging of your demons. My Lord, or - better - the Lord of all - Christ dwells in heaven and rules the world, and the sacrifice to Him is the soul turning its gaze to Him, and one food for Him is the salvation of believers. Stop taking up arms against the Church: the flock is on earth, and the shepherd is in heaven; the branches are on earth, and the vine is in heaven; If you cut off the branches, you will help the vine to grow. Your hands are full of blood; your sword is stained with wordless sacrifices; spare innocent animals, and turn the sword on us who denounce you; Spare the dumb who are silent, and kill us who condemn you. I fear not so much the sword that kills people as the sacrificial ax; the sword that kills people cuts the body, and the sacrificial ax kills the soul; the sword that kills people pierces the sacrifice, and the sacrificial ax destroys both the sacrifice and the sacrificer. Cut my neck, but do not desecrate the altar; You have a voluntary sacrifice, why do you bind a captive ox that resists? If you want to make a sacrifice, then make a verbal sacrifice in the run-up to the church. The tormentor cannot stand the excessive boldness of the martyr, but immediately begins the sacrifice from his tongue. So, he cuts off the tongue not because he wanted to destroy it, but because he was hostile to the preaching, not so much out of hatred of the preacher, but out of ill will towards the preached. But “he stifles the wise in their deceit” (1 Cor. 3:19) returns the cut-off instrument of voice from heaven, props up the lame sound with an invisible tongue and gives voice to the tongueless, in fact showing the tormentor the creation of man. And just as those who dig a well, digging out the veins, give the water a wider source, so the tormentor, having dug up the root of the tongue with iron, was doused with the strongest streams of accusations. I wanted to have fun to the end with my speech about the martyr, but the appropriate time has come and prompts me to remain silent; However, what has been said is enough for your benefit, but to complete what has been said, the instructions of our father are needed. Let us hide what was said in the depths of memory, and for what will be said let us open the reins of the soul; and for everything we will worship Christ, who works miracles, because to Him be glory with the Father and the All-Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Pronounced in Antioch after the laudatory words of St. Eustathius, on the day of memory of St. Romana - November 18. This word belongs to St. Chrysostom is doubtful due to the great difference in syllable and language between him and the original words of St. father. You might be interested in: