By Fr. George Dorbarakis
The note in the Synaxarion of Saint Clement, that his entire life was a single path of martyrdom, is also the central point emphasized by the Holy Hymnographer Theophanes, the poet of the Saint’s Canon.
“You traversed extended struggles upon the earth, O venerable one, and were thus deemed worthy to receive the crown of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
“You endured, O most wise one, the wounds of tortures, long-lasting and drawn out over many years; therefore you were shown to be greatly victorious.”
Indeed, one cannot but marvel at the multitude and the length of the tortures the Saint endured, with steadfast resolve, always fixing his gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not collapse under the first blows. His executioners were methodical and cruel toward him: they knew how to torture him without delivering the decisive blow. Yet, of course, they remained on the surface of their torments. They did not know — and could not see — that these blows, transformed by the Saint’s faith and by the grace of God, became for him, and for the whole world, “achievements and a festival.”
“The most sacred festival of your achievements, shining with heavenly light, illumines those who cry out: Blessed are You, O Lord, the God of our Fathers.”
This is the mystical dimension of the trials and torments that a Christian undergoes: when he has a reason for the sufferings he endures — his faith and his love for Christ — these sufferings become his delight and his joy. He does not rejoice in the sufferings as such — for that would constitute a psychological illness, as we have said before — but in what they bring about, both in himself and in the whole world: the increase of the grace of God and the manifestation of the Kingdom of God.
We should not consider it strange to speak of the universality of a martyr’s martyrdom. For, as we said, not only does the martyr himself celebrate, but the whole world does — that is, the whole Church, both earthly and heavenly. When a believer suffers for his faith in Christ, it means that at that moment he preeminently activates his position as a member of Christ, that is, as a member of Him who suffered for our sake. And thus, being united with Christ — and therefore with the whole world, which Christ assumed — he spreads the grace he receives through his martyrdom to all the other members, even to those who have not yet become active through holy baptism, as well as to the whole of creation. This is the participation of the saints in the catholicity of the salvation brought by Christ Himself.
Saint Theophanes emphasizes this truth not only in the troparion cited above, but also in others, such as that of the seventh ode of the Canon:
“By the radiance of your martyrdom you gladdened the world, chanting to Christ with the purity of your mind and soul: Blessed are You, O Lord, the God of our Fathers.”
Saint Theophanes makes use of what all hymnographers do in similar cases: the Saint’s name, Clement (Klēmēs in Greek means "vine branch"), and the place of his episcopacy, Ancyra. On the one hand, his name points to the bond that we Christians have with the Lord, according to His assurance: “I am the vine, you are the branches” — a bond that is essential and immediate:
“You became a precious branch of the vine of Christ, O all-praised Clement.”
“You bore beautiful fruits, since you were a branch of the life-giving vine of Christ.”
On the other hand, Ancyra, of which he was the shepherd, reminds him of the anchor of faith in Christ (let us not forget that the anchor was one of the best-known early Christian symbols, signifying firm faith). Thus he connects it with the other related virtues, love and hope:
“You set faith as a secure anchor, together with hope and love, as your foundation, and you dedicated yourself as a sanctified temple to the holy and sacred Trinity, O all-blessed Father.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
