March: Day 2: Teaching 1:
Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos, Bishop of Kyrenia
Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos, Bishop of Kyrenia
(An Example of a Godly Life is the Best Sermon)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. Saint Theodotos, whose memory is celebrated today, preached the teaching of Christ (at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth century) on the island of Cyprus, where he was appointed bishop in the city of Kyrenia. By his word and by the example of his own life he powerfully influenced the pagans and converted many of them to Christ.
When, under Licinius, a persecution of Christians broke out, the governor of the city ordered the Christian bishop to be brought to trial. Theodotos himself appeared before him and said:
“Here is the one whom you summon to judgment. I do not hide myself, but have come of my own accord to bear witness to the true God.”
In response to these words the governor ordered Theodotos to be subjected to the most cruel tortures. He was beaten with straps, torn with sharp iron instruments, and laid upon iron heated in the fire. Theodotos endured all these torments with wondrous patience and only prayed to God to strengthen him and all the persecuted Christians.
Many who had not previously believed, seeing the supernatural strength of the martyr in enduring such terrible tortures, understood the action of a higher, divine power accomplished in human weakness, and began openly to glorify the one true God.
Then Bishop Theodotos was taken to prison, where he languished until the victorious Emperor Constantine put an end to the persecution raised by Licinius and freed the Christians who were suffering in various prisons. After this, Saint Theodotos lived two more years, governing the Church of Kyrenia, and peacefully reposed in the year 320.
II. From this brief outline of the life of the Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos we see, brethren, that as a bishop and as a confessor of Christ, by the example of his pious life and his wondrous sufferings he converted many pagans to Christ. This gives us also a lesson: by the example of our own pious life to lead our neighbors to a truly Christian way of life. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16), says Jesus Christ to believers, thereby indicating the power of the example of a good life.
a) A great thing is example. Our nature is so constituted that we follow more readily what we see than what we hear or know. Command us to do this or that, and we are reluctant; we try to avoid it. But let one begin to do it, and others will follow him. Instruction acts only upon the mind, but example acts upon the will. Instruction communicates knowledge, but example guides us to the very deed itself.
But especially powerful upon us are examples of a corrupt life. Because of our inclination toward sin, they influence us far more strongly than even examples of the most virtuous life. What, for example, is the power of fashion? Who can stand against it? Does not almost everyone follow it without objection, however unreasonable, ruinous, or even harmful it may be? You see how inclined man is to imitation, and how strongly visible examples dispose him!
b) If examples are so important and effective for us, then what a great, binding, and responsible duty lies upon those who stand above others, who by authority or other advantages have special influence over others!
Such are shepherds of the Church over the people; rulers over the nation; nobles over common folk; the learned and educated over the unlearned and uneducated; parents over children; elders over the younger. These are leaders of the lesser brethren — and wherever they lead others, there others will go; and they will lead them, of course, where they themselves go. As they live, such examples they give to others.
It is beautiful if church shepherds not only instruct the people, but also present in their own lives images of piety and Christian virtues; if those who rule confirm the people, both by example and by authority, in an honest, orderly, Christian life, and by reasonable and lawful measures remove and restrain everything inconsistent with piety; if persons of rank live and act in accordance with the dignity of their origin, distinguishing themselves by Christian virtues and civic merits; if the learned and educated by reasonable and noble conduct shame and drive out from society superstition and ignorance; if parents not only by word but by their way of life bring up their children in the rules of a good and pious life, planting in their minds pure knowledge of the faith and establishing their hearts in the fear of God; if elders by word and by life give good example to the younger — then blessed, I say, are all, both society and the Church of God. Honor, mercy, and blessing from God to all who by good and edifying examples strengthen in the people pious faith and an honest Christian life!
But if the opposite? Woe, woe to all who by a bad example of life and actions lead the simple, the inexperienced, and the young into scandal, temptation, and sin. Woe — in the words of Christ the Savior — “Woe to that man by whom the offense comes” (Matt. 18:7). And the Lord also says: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required” (Luke 12:48), and “the mighty,” according to the word of wise Solomon, “shall be mightily tormented” (Wisdom 6:6).
III. May the Lord God grant us, through the prayers of the Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos, to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works (Heb. 10:24–25), and to advance in a blameless life.
(Compiled from “The Sower of Piety” by Protopresbyter V. Nordov, vol. 2, 2nd ed., pp. 154–157.)
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
