By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Saint Hesychios lived during the reign of Emperor Maximian (302) and was first in rank in the palace and in the council of the Senate. Because Maximian ordered that all Christians who were imperial soldiers, if they would not deny Christ, should be stripped of their belts (the sign of their royal dignity) and live as private persons and dishonored men, many Christians, on account of this unlawful decree, chose rather to live without any outward honor than to retain honor and lose their souls. One of these Christians was Saint Hesychios.
When the emperor learned of this, he gave orders that Hesychios too be stripped of his luxurious garments and clothed in a poor cloak without sleeves, woven of wool, and that he live among the women.
After this had been done, the emperor summoned Hesychios and asked him whether he was not ashamed that he had fallen from the honor of the magistracies into this dishonorable way of life, and whether he realized that none of the Christians would be able to restore him to his former honors and powers. The Saint replied that the present honor is temporary, whereas that of Christ is boundless and eternal. Enraged, the emperor ordered that a millstone be fastened around his neck and that he be thrown into the River Orontes (in Syria), in which the Saint received his blessed end.
Glorious while he lived in this world because of his great position in the emperor’s palace, Saint Hesychios was even greater in his end because of his faithfulness to Christ and his martyrdom. And he is more glorious still after his triumphant entry into the Kingdom of God, now living with the angels before his Lord. “Glorious in your life and greatest among the martyrs were you known, O athlete Hesychios, and together with the heavenly powers you stand in glory before the King of all,” says in awe the Holy Hymnographer Joseph (sticheron at Vespers).
It is precisely his glorious worldly rank that illumines the richness of his Christianity. For he had to contend with what in this world is considered “great and mighty”: power, money, and social approval. Yet he cast all these aside, counting them literally as refuse. “You abandoned offices and wealth and corruptible glory, and followed Christ alone” (Ode 9). Like the Apostle Paul, who likewise advanced in this way in his life: from being, as it were, a “princeling” of Judaism to becoming “the offscouring” and the least of all. And why? In order to gain Christ: “I count all things as refuse, that I may gain Christ.”
What lay as the motivating force in both the Apostle Paul and in Saint Hesychios the Senator, whom we celebrate today? What we all know well: their love for the Lord, their fervent longing and ardent desire for Him. What the word of God asks — man’s total turning toward God, “with all the soul and heart and mind and strength” — this all the saints put into practice; this Saint Hesychios also did. “You only loved the desirable beauty of Christ, O blessed one; therefore you despised the beauties and splendors of the world” (Ode 3).
This is the truth: only the power of God, taking root as love in the human heart, can enable a person to transcend even his own fallen nature, inclined “diligently from youth toward evil.” And this power not only frees one from the attraction and charm of material goods, but also leads the believer to lay down even what is considered the greatest good — life itself. “The Lord, all-venerable one, in the time of your martyric contests appeared to you as support and strength; therefore you did not fear death” (Ode 4). Is not fearlessness before death, especially in the extreme condition of martyrdom, the mark of the true Christian? For he lives by the gracious love of Christ, which is stronger even than death — the Cross is always the confirmation of fidelity to the truth.
But how is this fervent longing for Christ, in the martyr and in every saint, made concrete? What does it mean to love Christ in such a way that one receives strength to endure torments unto death? The Holy Hymnographer Joseph gives the answer, grounded in Scripture and the Tradition of the Church: love for Christ means embracing Christ’s commandments and living one’s life according to them — as though the believer were spiritually and bodily enclosed within what the Lord has ordained. For the Lord is contained within His commandments. “Fortified by the commandments of the Lord, O all-blessed Hesychios, you repelled the wicked flatteries of lawless rulers, contending with utmost endurance” (Ode 1). This is the result in the person who walks in loving obedience to the will of God: he feels as though he stands within a fortress, almost almighty, before whom every supposed attractive force is like a spider’s web.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
