Homily for the Commemoration of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessaloniki
By Fr. Daniel Sysoev
By Fr. Daniel Sysoev
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
I congratulate you all on the feast day of one of the greatest saints of the Universal Church – Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki, the myrrh-streaming Saint! The life of this Saint demonstrates that a wise man can be wise in God, no matter the circumstances. Nowadays, those in power say that power is a dirty business and therefore they cannot be good. Saint Demetrios is a brilliant refutation of this theory. He was the Governor-General of the Roman province of Thessaloniki, which included all of Macedonia, part of Bulgaria, and northern Greece, during the reign of the emperors Diocletian and Maximilian. It was during the reign of these emperors that the greatest persecution of Christians in the history of the Church (with the exception of the 20th century) occurred. Demetrios's job was to hunt down Christians and bring them to justice.
But Demetrios of Thessaloniki was a secret Christian and did not persecute Christians. When asked to report on the capture, arrest, and execution of Christians, he wrote them down on paper. With the funds allocated for the fight against Christianity, he paid for the work of missionaries who preached Christ. Demetrios of Thessaloniki was greatly loved in both the city and the provinces, and he was greatly respected. Despite this, some "good" people reported him to Emperor Maximilian, who, enraged, arrived in Thessaloniki himself to arrest Demetrios. Saint Demetrios forbade the troops under his command to resist and voluntarily surrendered to the emperor, after distributing all his property to the poor and freeing all his slaves.
Emperor Maximilian, having arrested Demetrios, was afraid to imprison him, as the jailers were military and subordinate to Demetrios of Thessaloniki. The emperor ordered the lower part of the baths to be converted into a prison. These baths in Thessaloniki survive to this day. Maximilian wanted to terrify Christians and amuse pagans; he staged a grand spectacle, a kind of Olympic Games. The highlight of those games was a wrestling competition. Maximilian had a huge, demon-possessed soldier named Lyaios, who, incidentally, also engaged in unnatural fornication with Emperor Maximilian. Lyaios, possessed by demons, was a superb wrestler. The duel usually took place on a platform beneath which spears were thrust into the ground, and Lyaios would throw those he defeated onto the spears.
His former subordinate, the soldier Nestor, came to Demetrios in prison for advice, and Demetrios of Thessaloniki blessed him in the name of Christ for the battle with Lyaios. The emperor promised Nestor gold if he defeated Lyaios. Before the duel, Nestor made the sign of the cross over Lyaios, the demons retreated from him, and he lost his strength. Nestor threw him onto his spears, just as Lyaios had killed Christians. But he received no gold. Maximilian was enraged at the loss of his lover and ordered Nestor's immediate execution. With his blessing, Demetrios of Thessaloniki demonstrated that Christianity did not at all mean the "ragged" forgiveness of Tolstoy. After this, the emperor, fearing Demetrios's trial, sent soldiers to secretly slaughter the Saint.
Several years later, when pagan rule ended and Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, Christians placed the incorrupt relics of Saint Demetrios at the site of his murder. And then a true miracle occurred — a huge stream of myrrh began to flow from these relics. Because of this, it became customary in Thessaloniki to baptize children with myrrh. This myrrh produced astonishing miracles — numerous healings from illnesses, the exorcism of demons. This flow of myrrh continued until the 12th century, when the Crusaders, and later the Turks, desecrated the relics of Saint Demetrios. Demetrios became the patron saint of Thessaloniki. On several occasions, barbarians approached the city and were severely punished by Saint Demetrios. Icons depict him stabbing a soldier. The story of this icon is as follows: a Slavic prince invaded Macedonian territory, intending to plunder Thessaloniki. The townspeople gathered before the relics of Demetrios and prayed to him. Afterward, Demetrios of Thessaloniki appeared on horseback, galloped up to the prince, and struck him dead with a spear. He then addressed the soldiers and ordered them to return home. After this incident, many conquerors avoided Thessaloniki, fearing Demetrios' wrath.
There are known cases of Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki assisting in battles against Muslims, and even more so, during the Nazi occupation of Greece in the 20th century, Saint Demetrios greatly assisted the Greeks. Saint Demetrios, as the military leader of Christ the Savior, continues his military service today, defending Orthodox Christians, fighting against the unbelievers, and turning us all to repentance. As we contemplate the remarkable image of Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki, let us learn from Christ's courage. For Christian martyrs, the day of their death is the day of their victory! Martyrs fight not against men, but against those who stand behind them.
As the Apostle Paul said: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
Behind every tormentor stands an evil spirit, crushed by the martyrs' heroism. After the blood of martyrs is shed, Satan's power over people falls, the temples are closed, and unbelief crumbles. This isn't because people are amazed by the martyrs' great courage, but because unbelief itself is the result of evil forces at work in the human soul. Every missionary has encountered a situation where, after explaining everything to a person, they say, "I still don't believe it!" What's the reason for this? It's because of a person's demonic nature. If a person commits evil deeds and refuses to give them up, they summon evil spirits to them, who blind their eyes, stop their ears, and steal the word of God from their heart. When the martyr fights and wins, the demons panic and flee the scene. The death of a martyr is like a nuclear bomb for a demon; it simply burns away all evil from miles away. Therefore, many people enslaved by evil forces are freed from the influence of the dark forces by touching a holy relic, the relics of saints.
Just as Saint Demetrios fought and won, so too must we fight and win, so that the power of Almighty God may rest within us and that Demetrios' prayer may protect us from all evil. May the Almighty Lord help us in this! I wish you all God's mercy!
God bless you!
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
