August: Day 22: Teaching 1: Holy Martyr Agathonikos

August: Day 22: Teaching 1:
Holy Martyr Agathonikos
 
(Different Kinds of Suffering)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Martyr Agathonikos, celebrated today by the Holy Church, was martyred during the reign of Maximilian. Sent to persecute Christians in the southern land of the Black Sea, the commander Eutolmios seized Agathonikos and many others in Nicomedia, such as Zeno, Theoprepios, Akindynos and Severian, and on their way to Thrace he killed them on the road, except Agathonikos, since as a result of torture they were unable to continue their journey. Agathonikos was martyred in Byzantium itself.

II. The Holy Martyr Agathonikos and others with him are sufferers for the truth, for the confession of the Christian faith. And one can meet many sufferers of all kinds in life.

a) Some suffer innocently, by the will of God, from human malice or ignorance. Such sufferers are all the poor and homeless orphans, innocently slandered, distorted by nature and unfortunate circumstances, sickly, wronged, and other unfortunate beings. Gradually, they become accustomed to their unfortunate condition and endure it with equanimity. Such meek endurance of undeserved suffering is instructive and worthy of martyr's crowns. "What praise is it," says the Apostle Peter, "if you sin and suffer torments? But if you do well and suffer, this is acceptable in the sight of God" (1 Peter 2:20).

b) There are other types of sufferers who endure severe illnesses or strict and lengthy punishments for their vices or crimes. Feeling the punishing hand of God upon them, they consider themselves deserving of punishment, do not complain, and strive to atone for the temptations and offenses they have inflicted upon their neighbors, repenting for their sins and turning away from their former, lawless lives. All such sufferers, no matter how great their sins may be, can hope for forgiveness and mercy from the Lord, just as the repentant thief on the cross was pardoned, provided that they bear their sufferings with equanimity until the end of their lives.

c) There are many sufferers who complain amidst their deserved sufferings, do not repent, do not amend their ways, indulge in coarse vices, and perish. Almost all of us utilize the talents bestowed upon us by God inappropriately. And when the just God punishes us, we grumble as if we bear an undeserved punishment.

III. We, the sinful, must bear all unpleasant and burdensome experiences in life with equanimity, in order to atone for our sins through patience and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, always remembering that it is not the happy who are called there, but the mourners, the persecuted, the slandered, and similar sufferers.

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