By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Saint Haralambos lived during the reign of Severus, when Lucian was governor in the city of Magnesia. Because he was a priest of the Christians and taught the way of truth, the tyrants ordered that he be stripped of his priestly vestments and then that the skin of his entire body be flayed. As the governor saw him patiently enduring the tortures, he became enraged and attempted to scrape the Saint with his own hands; immediately his hands were severed and remained suspended upon the body of the Martyr. The Saint, however, prayed and restored him to health. When the executioners, who were named Porphyrios and Baptos, saw this miracle, they renounced the idols and believed in Christ. The same also did three women from among those who were present there. The governor arrested all of these, and after subjecting them to tortures, mercilessly beheaded them. For although he was healed, he nevertheless remained in unbelief.
Saint Haralambis, more popularly known as Haralambos, is regarded, according to the hymnography of our Church, as the pride of Greece — of that Greece which bears the name of Christ; which is Christian and acknowledges and honors the saints; which considers the existence of their relics, such as the skull of the Holy Hieromartyr, as the greatest blessing and a most precious treasure; which hastens with faith and longing to the churches to celebrate their memory.
“Today all Christian-named Greece boasts, for she has acquired your skull as a spring gushing forth streams of healings, inexhaustible wealth, and grace that is never emptied, driving away diseases and the destructive plague from the people who bless you” (sticheron at Vespers).
“Greece has acquired your all-honorable skull as her everlasting wealth and precious treasure” (sticheron of the Litany).
Does this Greece exist? Do her cities exist — cities that rejoice and leap with gladness over the saints, such as Saint Haralambos? (“Rejoice in the Lord, cities of Greece, and leap with exultation.”) No one knows. A superficial judgment would say no — or at least not to the same degree as it appeared even a few years ago. It seems that there is a general fading of what theoretically constitutes the identity of the Greek: the Orthodox believer who is at the same time characterized by a deep love for his homeland. The shrinking of church congregations, the readiness of many to accept the construct of multiculturalism, the shame felt by a number of our compatriots to declare their Greek identity — especially when they find themselves abroad (and not only now, amid the general outcry caused by the economic crisis) — the dulling of reflexes toward whatever is attempted by those in authority through the application of the so-called “salami theory,” whereby each time a little more is cut away from our traditions: these are but a few of the signs that confirm this reality.
We tend toward what the word of Christ always says about the little flock — the few who are truly consistent believers and who love the Lord and, more broadly, the traditions of our nation — and He exhorts it not to fear: “Fear not, little flock.” But, as we said, no one knows. For in a similar concern of the great Prophet Elijah, when the true faith was being persecuted and no one seemed to follow it, God told him that around him, without his knowing it, “seven thousand Israelites had not bowed the knee to Baal.” Thus no one truly knows what “Christian Greece” means. And if one believes words attributed to Elder Paisios the Hagiorite — that “Christ, the Panagia, and the saints love Greece scandalously, because it produces saints par excellence” — then perhaps things are not so bleak after all.
Let us, however, return to Saint Haralambos. The Hymnographer, already from the very first sticheron of Vespers, reveals the magnitude of his holiness and his offering to the Church:
“From your youth entirely,” he notes, “you were dedicated to the Master Christ; Him you deeply desired and His footsteps you followed. And having cleansed your heart from every stain of the passions, you were abundantly filled with divine grace.”
The Saint was thus an imprint of Christ: Him he loved, and His life he revealed, through the keeping of His holy commandments. There is no need to search far to see who a saint is. A saint is one who lives according to the will of the Lord, who lives as He lived. But the Hymnographer becomes more precise: to live as Christ lived means to cleanse the heart of the passions and to be illumined by the grace of God.
In other words, the spiritual ascetic method of our Church is the only true “proof” that a person genuinely belongs to Christ, that he is a saint. We must not forget that the spiritual life follows the well-known three stages: purification, illumination, and deification. Along this path the authenticity of a person’s holiness is judged — not by other external, superficial manifestations: good works, activities, building projects, or social contributions. Not that these are condemned; rather, they cannot be positively evaluated if they are not expressions of a purified heart. Saint Basil himself was active, organized, and a father through his works, yet he was profoundly ascetical, and he emphasized that whoever wishes to find God in his life must withdraw from the dispersion of the mind among sensible things, return to himself, and through this turning encounter God.
Saint Haralambos, therefore, was faithful to this spiritual path of the Church, which from the beginning is her genuine and apostolic tradition — that is, the tradition of Christ Himself. The Hymnographer confirms this with other words as well:
“Illumined and made radiant in nous by the divine Spirit… you strengthened the Orthodox faith” (sticheron of the Litany).
Illumination by the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the grace-filled purification of the heart, is the only way in which the Orthodox faith is strengthened.
“Greece stood astonished, O Martyr Haralambos, at the purity of your life and the surpassing splendor of your martyrdom” (kathisma of Matins).
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
