August: Day 22: Teaching 2: Saint Eulalia the Virgin

August: Day 22: Teaching 2:
Saint Eulalia the Virgin
 
(Let Us Go To Christ!)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Eulalia, whose memory is celebrated today together with the martyrs Agathonikos, Zotikos, and others, was the daughter of pious parents who lived in Spain, in a village near the present city of Barcelona. From her very childhood she was so firmly brought up in the Christian faith that already at the age of fourteen she was ripe for the feat of martyrdom, in order through it to depart to her Heavenly Bridegroom.

In the year 303, when the persecution of Christians took place under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, Eulalia heard that the hegemon Dacian had arrived in their city, by whose order Christians who refused to participate in idol sacrifices were being sought out and tortured. Then Eulalia, at night, without even warning her parents, went to the city. Approaching the city gates early in the morning, she heard the voices of messengers calling the people to the spectacle that lay ahead for the faithful confessors of Christ. Swiftly making her way through the crowd of people, she approached the hegemon and said to him: “Unjust judge! You sit in a high place, but do you not fear God, Who is above all! Are you sitting here to destroy innocent people, to shed the innocent blood of Christians?”

The hegemon was struck by the fearlessness of the young confessor. He began to persuade her to take care of herself, to renounce her faith in Christ, but when he saw that all his admonitions were in vain, he ordered that she be subjected to torture. She, as if not feeling the suffering, became completely absorbed in prayer and, finally, exclaiming: "Lord Jesus Christ! Hear my prayer, give me rest with Your chosen ones in Your Kingdom!" With this she gave up her soul to God.

A guard was placed over the body of the Martyr to prevent Christians from stealing it.

Meanwhile, Eulalia's parents were looking for their missing daughter. Arriving in the city, they heard about what she had done and saw her dead, tied to a tree. They involuntarily cried, looking at her from afar, and at the same time felt an inexplicable joy at the sight of their martyred daughter. Three days later, Christians managed to acquire the remains of the Holy Martyr and give them a Christian burial.

II. The Holy Martyr Eulalia, having barely reached the age of 14, had matured so much in spiritual life, had become so strengthened in holy love for Christ, her Heavenly Bridegroom, that, leaving her home, parents and all worldly attachments, she went to Christ, her King and God, not fearing the most severe torments.

a) Brothers and sisters! Let us also go to Christ not by the path of martyrdom and the shedding of blood for Christ, which is not required of us now, but by obedience to His commandments, through living and active faith in Him, love for Him and hope in Him.

Burdened with sins, let us go to our Lord Jesus Christ, Who Himself calls us: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). He, the All-Holy and All-Merciful, will not drive away anyone who comes to Him. He did not come into this world for the righteous, but precisely for the salvation of sinners like us. Let us go and fall down before Him, and with tears and sobbing say to Him: “Lord! save us; we are perishing” (Matt. 8:25).

Go to Him, you workers of thought, martyrs of knowledge, who seek the truth with such zeal and effort that you often overlook it, not hoping that the truth could be so simple, clear, and close. Let us go to Him: "He is the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Do not boast of your wisdom, but acknowledge it as foolishness before God. If you have not yet dared to approach Him openly out of fear, then, like Nicodemos, come to Him even secretly, stealthily escaping your own doubts and prejudices. He will teach you, as He taught Nicodemos, the mystery of rebirth. Then you, like Nicodemos, will no longer be afraid but will consider it a blessing to bury Him... within your own heart. Cast aside false shame and false pride; lay all your arrogance along with all your doubts at His pure feet. He calls and awaits you; He will resolve and calm all the troubling thoughts of your mind.

Go to Him, you unfortunate brothers, the unbelieving and the faint of heart! You yourselves know that your condition is the worst of all unfortunate states in the world. For you, there is not a single firm point of support in all of nature; you are orphans in the land of being... Weep before the Lord Jesus; tell Him about your hopeless state. He will accept you and comfort you.

Go to Him, you unfortunate brothers, unbelievers and those of little faith! You yourselves know that your condition is the most difficult of all the unfortunate conditions in the world. For you in all of nature there is not a single firm point of support; you are orphans in the land of being... Weep before the Lord Jesus; tell Him of your joyless condition. He will receive you and comfort you.

Come to Him, you who are sick in soul and body, sad, weeping, poor, separated, persecuted, slandered, offended, sitting in prison, condemned and awaiting death! He has long called you His brethren. He will ease and calm you all. There is no grief in the world in which He could not comfort you. Under the protection of the Lord Jesus Christ, even death has nothing terrible for a true Christian. “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Cor. 15:55). If we go even into the midst of the shadow of death, we will fear nothing there with the Lord Jesus Christ: there His Divine right hand will miraculously preserve us!

b) What is the way to come to Him?

Let us go, dear brothers and sisters, to the Orthodox Church of Christ. He is there. This is the shortest and surest path to Him. Do you hear the call of His priest: "With the fear of God, faith and love, draw near"? It is His servant who calls us to Him. Our Savior Himself is visibly present here in the Divine Mystery of the Eucharist. Here is His precious Blood and precious Body. Shudder, Christian soul, from such an awesome and loving closeness of your Lord, Who says: "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him" (John 6:56). 

Our God! May our whole soul be poured out in grateful tears before You for Your great blessings, for that deification, incomprehensible to the mind, but felt by the heart, with which You honor our human nature! Having tasted and seen how good You are, shall we withdraw from Your Church, through which we come to You? Shall we rarely visit Your temple, from which flows so much grace, illumination and salvation for our entire life from the cradle to the grave? Shall we exchange prayerful presence at the divine service for some kind of games and worldly amusements? Shall we stand in Your temple absentmindedly, proudly and inattentively, not participating with our spirit in the sacred hymns and readings, which, with the smoking of incense, ascend from earth to heaven?

But the Lord is not only in the temple, but also outside the temple: let us be imbued with this feeling of the omnipresence of God.

Behold, even the Old Testament righteous man felt how vividly was the nearness of the Lord. “I have beheld,” he says, “the Lord before me continually, for He is at my right hand” (Psalm 16:8). I see the Lord always before me, He always stands near me. My brethren! This is a real reality. We are surrounded by a spiritual world invisible to us; the all-seeing eye of the Lord is directed at us; we walk in His presence; He sees our every step, our every thought and intention. His most pure Mother, His Baptist and Forerunner, stands by Him; He is surrounded by angels and archangels, the host of prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors and all the saints who have pleased Him from the beginning of time. They all look at us, sympathize with us, love us, pray for us. Let us fall to the dust before the Lord and His saints and cry out with our hearts and lips: "Lord, have mercy on us! Most Holy Mother of God, save us! All saints, pray to God for us sinners! Even before we have completely perished in our sins, save us!" Let such prayer never leave our hearts and thoughts – at home, on the road, in solitude, and in society. Let us accompany our prayer with the most tangible sign of the presence of God's power – the sign of the cross. The sign of the honorable cross, made with faith and love, works great miracles of God's omnipresent mercy. History and hell know the power of the holy cross!

III. Let us forever preserve in our hearts the consciousness of the divine power and omnipresence of the Lord, and let us live constantly in His presence, “for He is at our right hand.” Feeling the nearness of the Lord, we will not go where He would not go with us, and we will not do what He would not do. Our steps, that is, our whole life, will then be directed according to His word and law (Psalm 119:183). Then He, the all-holy and most merciful, will come to us and create in us an abode for Himself together with the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 14:23), to whom be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 

 

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