By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Saint Theophanes is the hymnographer of his namesake, the Venerable Theophanes. “Theophanes chants to Theophanes” is in fact the acrostic of the Canon composed for the Venerable one. And he considers it his duty — standing astonished and in wonder before the holiness of the Venerable one who bears the same name — to ask for that Venerable one’s grace, in order that he himself may also put into practice what he accomplishes only in words.
The Oikos of the Kontakion is especially indicative, on the one hand, of the holiness of the Venerable Theophanes, and on the other hand of the humility of the hymnographer Saint Theophanes, who recognizes his smallness and sinfulness before the greatness of the praised Venerable one:
“Without preferring anything earthly, you followed with joy Christ who called you. And you willingly took His yoke upon your shoulders, and thus you found rest for your soul. Send that same rest also to me, the poor and slothful one, who speak but do not at all perform, but still remain occupied with the affairs of life, and who marvel at you, how you fled from everything, being deprived both of your wife and of your wealth.”
And although the humility of the Holy Hymnographer makes him have this sense of his own smallness, he nevertheless teaches us that if we cannot exactly imitate our saints, we must at least admire them, so that we may present their life as the standard and not our own impassioned condition. Something similar is also said by Saint John of the Ladder, who, writing for example about the virtue of humility, notes that we may not have reached its height, but at least we should praise it.
The Hymnographer therefore praises the Venerable Theophanes for his faithfulness in following Christ. That is, if the Venerable one became holy, it was because he strove to follow Christ, thus revealing his great love for Him. Indeed, he repeatedly refers to the Venerable one’s fervent faith in Christ, like fire, and to his deep love for Him, which caused him to despise every desire for the things of the world.
“You followed the footsteps of the God who appeared in the flesh, Father, because you were inflamed by faith in Him” (Ode 1).
“You were captivated by the most desirable love for your Master Christ, and therefore you despised every worldly desire” (Ode 1).
And this is a truth that our Church repeatedly reminds us of: it is impossible for a person to overcome the charm and the traps set by the world that “lies in wickedness,” unless he is captivated by something stronger. And the only stronger thing, which gives the impulse to disengage even from the passions that exist within us, is the love of Christ.
“Overcome evil with good,” proclaims the Apostle Paul authoritatively. Only by the good is evil conquered. Otherwise, if someone believes that by himself or with the help of some attractive philosophies he can conquer his passions, he is greatly mistaken.
“Without Me you can do nothing” is the revealing word of the Lord, which has been confirmed for more than two thousand years in the life of faithful believers.
The Holy Hymnographer cannot fail also to refer to the struggle of the Church in the time of the Venerable Theophanes: the struggle against the heretical iconoclasts and the persecution that he suffered from them. The Venerable Theophanes therefore was also a confessor because of his firm stance against the ruling heretics of that time. He suffered tortures, imprisonments, and exile. Indeed, it was in exile that he breathed his last.
But our Hymnographer also reminds us of a truth concerning the question of icons, which he especially likes to emphasize when dealing with saints in such circumstances. The celebrated Venerable one venerated the icons — especially that of the Master Christ — because he himself had restored the image of Christ within his soul. Only the one who is a true human being, having Christ in his soul, can freely and knowingly venerate the holy icons of our Church.
And as we had pointed out again relatively recently: the enemy of icons therefore becomes the one who has “mangled” the image of God within himself. Blind, in other words, with respect to himself — without awareness of the greatness of man himself as one created in the image of God — he approaches both Christ and His saints blindly.
“Having your soul according to the image of your Creator, you venerated the immaculate icon of the Master Christ, kissing it with longing” (Ode V).
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.