By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Saint Nikephoros lived in the time of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus and was a simple layman. He also had a Christian friend, a presbyter of the Church named Saprikios, who, through demonic influence, came to hate Saint Nikephoros and harbored resentment against him. When Saprikios was arrested by the pagans and endured many tortures for the faith of Christ, Saint Nikephoros sent intermediaries to him, asking for forgiveness, but Saprikios would not listen to them.
Then Saint Nikephoros saw that Saprikios was being led to the place where his head would be cut off, so he ran and fell at his feet, begging for forgiveness. And although he reminded him of the laws of Christ concerning reconciliation among people, Saprikios would not relent. Saprikios had passed through many tortures and the hour was approaching for him to receive the crown and the rewards from Christ. Yet even when only a short time remained before his beheading, he would not grant forgiveness. For this reason, he was stripped of God’s help and said to the executioners: “Leave me, and I will sacrifice to the gods.”
When Saint Nikephoros saw this, he surrendered himself to the executioners and confessed Christ with boldness. Then, by the command of the tyrant, they cut off his head, and thus the Saint swiftly received the rewards of love, which he strove to put into practice for the sake of Christ, the Giver of love.
The Hymnographer of Saint Nikephoros, Theophanes, gives us in the Exapostilarion of Matins the essence of the Saint in a single phrase:
“Nikephoros, you were shown to be a victor, as your name declares, for you conquered the tyrants through love and martyrdom. Therefore you received the crown of victory from the Lord.”
Indeed, the hymns of our Church revolve precisely around these two themes: the victory of the Saint based on the Lord’s commandment — love — especially when he struggled to be reconciled with the priest Saprikios, who was hostile toward him; and his victory in martyrdom, because he did not hesitate at all to confess his faith at the cost of his very life. This means that Saint Nikephoros, a simple man, without rank or office, yet fully aware of the most important reality in the life of a believer — to remain steadfast in faith — demonstrated in practice that his life was founded upon the first and greatest commandment of the Lord: love, with its twofold dimension, love toward God and love toward one’s neighbor.
Saint Theophanes reminds us once again — especially today through Saint Nikephoros — that the two loves, toward God and toward one’s neighbor, are in essence one. No one can possess one love without the other. To love God means simultaneously to love one’s neighbor, even one’s enemy; to love one’s neighbor means simultaneously to love God. And this is because God “is love.” This is proclaimed forcefully by the evangelist of love, Saint John, when he writes: “He who says that he loves God but hates his brother is a liar.” It is therefore impossible for anyone to depart from love without losing communion with God.
This truth is emphasized strongly in the Doxastikon of the stichera at Vespers:
“You showed clearly to all, O athlete Nikephoros, that he who does not love his neighbor cannot love the Master Christ either. Therefore you yourself sincerely loved your fellow servant Saprikios, and through this love you were lifted up as though on wings toward divine love, and you laid down your life for the confession and faith in Christ. But Saprikios, ill-named as he was, having acquired implacable hatred toward you, was finally shown to be a denier even of the Master Christ.”
Yet perhaps today what astonishes most is not the love of Saint Nikephoros. By the grace of God, he proved it in action, was crowned, won Paradise, and intercedes for us. What is more paradoxical is the demonic refusal of the priest Saprikios to grant forgiveness to his former friend Nikephoros — a refusal that caused him to fall away both from the love of God and from salvation itself, depriving him not only of a triumphant entrance as a martyr into the Kingdom of God, but even of simple salvation. From enduring so many tortures and confessing the faith with courage, he becomes in the end a cowardly little man and a denier of Christ.
This paradox is noted also by the Hymnographer:
“Saprikios, who did not keep Your ordinances, O Savior Lord, is stripped of Your divine grace; and having turned his back to the enemies, the coward is deprived of the glory of Your martyrs. Therefore, amazed at Your righteous providence, we cry aloud: Glory to Your power.” (Ode IV)
Beyond the doxology of God’s name, who glorifies His martyrs, grief and fear are the emotions stirred by the case of Saprikios. Who can boast of any rank in the Church, of sermons, of activity, or even of courageous faith? Saprikios had all these: he was a priest, he preached, he acted missionarily, he confessed the faith with boldness. Yet the criterion is something else: absolutely and solely love, proven in practice as forgiveness toward every fellow human being.
One may possess every virtue. If one lacks the one thing “which is needful” — love — he has nothing. Therefore, on the one hand, no one can boast of anything: true love grows where the soil of humility exists. On the other hand, martyrdom by itself does not save. Even if Saprikios had given his life for Christ, he would not have been a Christian martyr. The Christian martyr dies without the slightest trace of hatred or enmity within him.
The Apostle Paul states this most clearly: “And if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Even if my body is burned for my faith, without love that sacrifice does not benefit me at all.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
