By Fr. George Dorbarakis
A question arises every time we are faced with great and terrible martyrdoms of saints: how, with the grace of God, do they endure them, overcome them, remaining unharmed and intact, but in the end they succumb and leave this life “defeated”? From the synaxarion, for example, of the saints today, it seems that they, while presented as the weak, are ultimately the strong: the martyrdoms do not “touch” them drastically, they themselves provoke and resolve the silence in the king, they cast down the statue of Zeus with prayer. So how do the “supernaturally strong” in the end “lose”? The answer should probably not particularly concern us: First, the charismatic overcoming of martyrdoms revealed through the saints the omnipotence of Christ, which functioned as a challenge for well-intentioned pagans to gain faith in Him. And it was seen: not only Aphthonios and Elpidophoros, but also the mother of the king herself, as well as thousands of others, were converted to the true faith. In other words, the martyrdom of the saints functioned there – and always functions in all centuries – as the most effective preaching, as the most important missionary work. Secondly, despite all the omnipotence of Christ manifested through the saints, they themselves are defeated: they depart from this life in a tragic way. But in this way they participate in the Passion of the Lord, they confirm that “through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God,” the phrase “through fire and water and you brought us to abundance” is applied to them. Martyrdom, as we know, is the only road that leads to the Kingdom of God.
This means that through the Passion the saints are glorified, as they become sharers in the Resurrection of Christ. Martyrdom, rightly experienced, always results in the Resurrection. And the Holy Hymnographer notes this: the saints now enjoy the sweetness, they are enveloped in the light of God, eternal life has become their lot. “Those who enjoy the sweetness and are enveloped in light and are allotted eternal life.” However, the Hymnographer is quick to clarify what exists in all the saints: the enjoyment of the saints in Paradise after their martyrdom does not mean the erasure of their interest in this life, in the sense of their apathy towards their brothers and sisters in Christ who are wintering in this world. Gaining a place in Heaven means a “face-to-face” relationship with Christ, full integration into His life, and consequently an increase in their love for their fellow men. That is, the saints are indeed “safe” in Heaven, but their minds and hearts are also in love with us, which is why they pray with the strength they now have to the Lord to save us from dangers and all harm. “Having been delivered from dangers, fetters, imprisonment, and every kind of evil, and having exercised godly boldness before God, while showing sympathy, you truly imitated Christ.”
The facts exist and we live them: in this world we live with sorrows and trials. But in heaven we also have, besides of course our God Himself, those who care about us and never abandon us: our saved brothers and sisters in Christ. How good it would be if we realized this truth and tried daily to create friendly relationships with those who truly love us and who, in the omnipresence of Christ, watch us with sympathy "imitating Christ," ready to intervene therapeutically in our lives! It is as if we have in our hands a very powerful weapon, like the pickaxe that the woodcutter has to chop wood. This is what the Hymnographer teaches us about “the five-pointed torch of the athletes,” the saints of today: “The five-pointed torch of the athletes, like a pickaxe in a forest of trees, in a divine way completely cut down the enemy’s deception.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
