September: Day 16: Teaching 2: Holy Great Martyr Euphemia

September: Day 16: Teaching 2: 
Holy Great Martyr Euphemia
 
(How Can We Be Saved?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. On the day of the Holy Great Martyr Euphemia, who received the Kingdom of Heaven through her faithfulness to Jesus Christ in life and suffering, it would be appropriate to ask the question: how can we be saved now, when there is no suffering persecution for Christ?

We must be saved by fulfilling God's commandments.

II. Once, during the earthly life of Jesus Christ, a lawyer (a learned man) came to Him and said: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" The Savior said: "What is written in the law (of Moses)? How do you read it?" He answered: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus Christ said: "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live," that is, you will inherit eternal life (Luke 10:25-28).

Do the same, you Christians, and you will be saved.

a) How can we not love God? He is our Creator and Provider. By His power we live, move, and have our being. He makes the sun to shine to warm us. He sends rain on the earth to make the fruits of the earth grow for us. He gives us bread, fills our hearts with food and joy. He illuminates the day for our labors and determines the night for our rest. How can we not love God? He is our Savior, who came to earth and suffered for us sinners. He is the accomplisher of our salvation. We must go to Him after death and be eternally blessed with Him, if only we deserve it. How can we not love such a merciful Master and Savior? But we must love Him with all our hearts, that is, completely cleave to God and leave all earthly attachments. We must love God more than our father and mother, more than our children. After all, the Savior Himself said: "Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me..." (Matt. 10:37). This is how one should love God. To us sinners and weak ones, this seems impossible. But there were such people in the host of saints who, out of love for God, left everything: home, parents and spouse. 

Who among us does not know Saint Alexis the Man of God (March 17)? The son of a famous Roman nobleman, on his wedding night he secretly left home, parents, bride, and lived as a needy wanderer in strange places, finally, in the very house of his parents under the guise of a beggar, enduring here all kinds of deprivation and bitterness, and most of all spiritual sorrow from separation from his parents in front of the parents themselves. And what did not Saint Alexis endure out of love for God? For this the Lord rewarded him: after his death, a heavenly voice announced for all to hear to look for the “man of God,” and this man of God turned out to be a deceased beggar who had lived unknown in the house of his parents.

Or here is another example: the youth Irenaeus during his torment was surrounded by his father, mother and all his acquaintances, and with tears they begged him to spare his youth, to fulfill the will of the king and to avoid torment, but Irenaeus did not listen to them. To the tormentor's questions: "Do you have parents?" he answered: "I do not," repeating the words of the Lord: "Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:37).

It is hard for you, Christian, it is beyond your strength to renounce the love of your parents for God, so fulfill the commandments of God, because whoever fulfills the commandments of God also loves God. "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me" (John 14:21), said the Savior.

b) After God, we must love our neighbors: "Love your neighbor as yourself." You will say: “How can we not love God, and we love Him too. But how can we love all our neighbors without exception, and at the same time love them as ourselves? This is beyond human strength.” No, Christians, it only seems so. In fact, how easy and at the same time holy and beneficial this commandment is! What could be easier and sweeter than this love? Is not all our consolation and blessedness contained in holy, pure, Christian love? "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity" (Psalm 81:1), says the Holy Prophet David.

How many reasons are there for us to love one another? We are all created by one God; we all came from the same ancestors and are destined to be brethren among ourselves in the flesh; we are all redeemed by our one Savior, Jesus Christ; we all constitute one Holy Church; we all profess one Orthodox faith, we all partake of the one Body and Blood of Christ our God. Should we not love one another after this? Love is such a great feeling that, having it, we have everything necessary for a holy life pleasing to God. 

There is a tradition about the Holy Evangelist John the Theologian that, at the end of his life, he constantly repeated the same teaching: “Children, love one another!” When he was asked why he always repeated the same instruction, the holy elder answered: “Because this commandment alone is sufficient for salvation.” Read the lives of the saints and you will see many examples of true Christian love for one's neighbors.

Look, for example, at the Venerable Agathon: you will be amazed at his extraordinary love for his neighbors. He loved people so much that if someone, entering his poor cell, stopped to look at one of his things, Agathon begged him to take it for himself, and did not let him go until he fulfilled his request. He loved his neighbors so much that sometimes he said: “Oh, if only I could give my healthy body to the leper, and take his sick body for myself!”

And look at Saint Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, how he loved his neighbors. One day a widow came to him with a request to ransom her only son from captivity. Saint Paulinus, having nothing - neither money nor clothes - but wanting to help the widow's grief, said to her: "I have nothing, so take me and, as your slave, sell me for of your son." The widow did not agree to such a proposal, but Saint Paulinus convinced her to sell him in exchange for her son.

If these examples are beyond your reach, then act differently. The Lord does not demand such selfless love from us all. He says: "Love your neighbor as yourself." What we wish for ourselves, we should wish for others, and what we do for ourselves, we should do for others. We take care of our health: we should take care of the health of others. We value our honor: we should value the honor of others. We guard our property: we should guard the property of others. We strive for our well-being: we should strive for the well-being of others. In a word, act according to the commandment of the Savior: "In everything, as you would that others should do to you, do also to them" (Matt. 7:12); and you can be saved and inherit eternal life.

III. Christian brethren! Love your Lord with all the strength of your soul and your neighbor as yourselves – and you will receive eternal salvation.

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.