By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Paul the Great Confessor was from Thessaloniki and became a notary and secretary to Alexander, the most holy Patriarch of Constantinople, and a deacon of this Holy Church. After the death of Alexander, the Orthodox nominated him to be Patriarch of Constantinople. However, Emperor Constantius, because he was a follower of the Arian heresy, when he returned from Antioch, removed him from the throne and put Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, in his place. Paul then went to Rome, where he found the great Athanasios also deposed from his throne by Constantius. So by letters from Emperor Constans both were restored to their thrones, but were again expelled by Constantius on the advice of the Arians. Then Constans wrote to his brother Constantius that "if they do not regain their thrones, I will come with military force against you." So the divine Paul took the throne for a short time, but after the death of Constantius he was exiled to Cucusus in Armenia, and there, after being locked in a small house where he was officiating, he was strangled by the Arians with his omophorion, and thus he surrendered his soul to the Lord.
Saint Paul the Confessor may not be well known today to the fullness of the Church, but his holiness and his struggles for the Orthodox faith are sufficiently highlighted by the hymnology of our Church, given that in the era in which he lived (4th century AD) he was among those who supported Orthodoxy against the onslaught of the heresies of Arianism, which reduced the Son and Word of God to a creature, and of the followers of the heretic Macedonius, who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Hymnographer Theophanes repeatedly emphasizes his anti-heretical struggles, because of which he even lost his episcopal throne, was dragged into exile, and eventually lost his life. “You have strangled the atheist Arius and the impious Macedonius with the strong cords of your dogmas” (Sticheron of Vespers). The power of his words about the Orthodox faith was such that the ecclesiastical poet compares him to David, who with his sling defeated the giant Goliath. "After having cast away the atheism of Arius and the blasphemy of Macedonius through the exposition of your divinely inspired dogmas and teachings, just as David of old slew Goliath of another race, you strangled and condemned those heretics with authority" (Ode 5).
How is his great struggle against heretics and for the faith justified? More than once, our Hymnographer, as we saw above, notes: Heresy constitutes atheism and blasphemy against God, senselessness and folly, and even rot that can contaminate the entire world. Therefore, his struggle is for the truth of Christ's revelation, like the struggle not to lose the medicine, in order to maintain the health of man and the world. "The foolish, godless, and senseless Macedonius, who defied the divine Spirit, O God-revealer Father, was overthrown by your strong rebuke" (Ode 6). "You have stopped, O divinely-minded Father, the spread and the rot of heresy, as you have put in place as a most effective remedy your own confession of faith and the brilliance of your dogmas, but also the purity of your mind and your divine zeal (Ode 5). Thus, heresy is not simply another opinion that we can easily include in the Church, but it constitutes the complete corruption of the Church, the perversion of faith in Christ, and consequently the loss of man’s very salvation.
However, what the Hymnographer Theophanes notes is of great importance: Saint Paul – and with him, of course, all the Holy Fathers – fought heresy not in a negative way, but in a positive way. How? By exposing the correct dogmas and thus revealing the error of heretical teachings. In other words, in the face of the light of truth, the darkness of error is revealed and disappears. And we see that this revelation of truth is not done only with the mouth and lips, but first and foremost with purity of mind and godly zeal. "With mouth and tongue and heart you proclaimed Christ, Paul" (Ode 3). This means that the confession of faith with the mouth presupposes the purification of the heart from passions, so that what is confessed ultimately becomes a fruit of the light of the Holy Spirit. As the poet notes again: “The grace of the Holy Spirit has flowed abundantly upon your lips, O blessed one, as this grace has found you to be a truly strong bulwark and defender of Orthodoxy. Therefore you have enlightened the multitudes of the Orthodox” (Ode 5).
It is understandable, of course, that a brilliant poet of the stature of Saint Theophanes would not have left uncommented the fact of the homonymy of Saint Paul the Confessor with the majestic Apostle Paul. In almost every Ode of the Canon for the Saint, as well as in most of the troparia of his Vespers, but also in the Apolytikion itself, there is a parallel with the Apostle Paul. And why is this? Precisely so that the Hymnographer can emphasize the greatness and spiritual value of the Saint celebrated today. The quotation of the troparion is entirely indicative: "The divine Apostle Paul appoints you, who bear the same name as his own and adorn yourself, blessed one, with the same manner of life, both in reverence to God and in the courage of the soul, as well as in patience under circumstances, and who burn with zeal for orthodoxy, O Champion, as his imitator. Now, together with him, you are glorified in the heavenly tabernacles." (Sticheron of Vespers). And what most clearly shows the parallelism of the lives of the two Pauls for the Hymnographer is the fact that they "learned" about God, they came to know Him not from books or simple hearsay, but because God Himself was the source of their knowledge. "You descended into the depths of the Spirit, for you lived on earth as if you had no flesh. And from there you drew the wealth of divine knowledge and offered Orthodoxy as a fountain to mankind with your teachings, venerable Father" (Doxastikon of the Aposticha of Matins).
The conclusion is obvious: as much as we are "baptized" in the life and teaching of Saint Paul the Confessor, as much as we allow the song about his life and work through the hymnology of the Church to water us, so much we quench our thirst with the pure waters of Orthodoxy, fellowshipping with the Apostle Paul and being guided by the Lord himself. "For you had the Lord as your guide to direct all your journey, Paul, all-blessed" (Ode 8).
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
