 |
| Martyr Gordius of Cappadocia. Fresco in the Church of the Theotokos in the Studenica Monastery, Serbia. 1568. |
By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Saint Gordius was from Caesarea of Cappadocia and lived during the reign of Emperor Licinius. He held the rank of count and was the commander of one hundred soldiers. Because he could not bear to see the insolence of the impious and their blasphemies against Christ, he arose and departed, going into the mountains, where he lived among the wild beasts. There he kindled his longing for Christ and gained courage against the error of idolatry. Then he came rushing like a lion from the desert into the city, seeking to tear apart the devil, the patron of deceit. He entered the theater and glorified Christ, with the result that the crowd turned its attention to him and the presiding ruler was struck with amazement at his boldness. His amazement turned into rage, and he therefore ordered that he be put to death by the sword.
Saint Theophanes, the Hymnographer of the Canon of Saint Gordius, first interprets the martyr’s withdrawal from the world: he turned toward the eternal, laying aside transient vanity. That is, Saint Gordius preferred to live with the angels rather than with people who had lost the element of humanity, having become — because of their impiety toward God — worse than wild beasts. His withdrawal from the world, therefore, was the fruit of his faith and his love for God, and not a sterile denial of it. Proof of this is the fact that in the desert he enkindled his love for Him.
“You laid aside transient vanity, O all-blessed one, and joined yourself to what abides forever; and having fled from men, you came to dwell with the angels, O divinely-minded one.”
The sense of the vanity of earthly things and his orientation solely toward what is eternal — that is, toward Christ and His holy commandments — were indeed the cause of his flight from the world, but they also turned him to unceasing spiritual asceticism in the desert. And this, in turn, led him back into the world — not in order to be conformed to it, but to rebuke it for its sin, challenging it through the courageous confession of his faith in Christ.
“Considering the instability of passing things and the constancy of what endures, O renowned martyr, with this reflection, O blessed one, you fearlessly entered the arena of contest.”
From this perspective, his return once again into the world is understood — by spiritual criteria — as the preeminent expression of his love for it. For no one truly loves the world and human beings unless he brings them, by word and example, before God. This is precisely what Christ Himself did: He came into the world not to tickle people’s ears, not to tell them that they were proceeding well, but to rebuke them for their sin and to give them impetus and strength to rediscover their original calling — to be with God. In the same way the mission of the Prophets in the time of the Old Testament was understood: they were sent by God, revealing His love for the Jews through the call to repentance that they addressed to them. Thus, the lion-like entrance of Saint Gordius into the theater is understood as a prophetic act that calls the well-disposed to repentance.
Saint Theophanes insists on this impetuous and lion-like presence of Gordius in the theater: "the inflaming of the Saint’s heart by the love of Christ" makes him see the "foolish idolaters as lifeless stones," while the rage of the tyrant crashes against him like a wave breaking upon a rock. The images used by the Holy Hymnographer are striking, in order to “paint” vividly the inner strength of the martyr:
“Entering the theater fearlessly and with might, like a lion, you regarded the foolish idolaters, O blessed one, as lifeless stones.”
“Perceiving, O divinely-minded one, your steadfast resistance, the tyrant was shattered by your firmness, like a wave upon a rock.”
This is a fact: faith and love for Christ not only strengthen the human soul and body, but literally make a person all-powerful, so that no one can stand against him. The only thing the devil and his instruments can accomplish against such a person is to overcome his body — never his soul. The soul remains, by the grace of God, unconquered and invincible.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
