April: Day 13: Teaching 2:
Saint Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome*
(On the Right Faith)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Saint Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome*
(On the Right Faith)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. To Saint Martin, whose memory is celebrated today, the Lord granted to be archshepherd in Rome at a time when the so-called Monothelite heresy was very strong. It consisted in this: that in Jesus Christ they acknowledged only one will — the divine — although they recognized in Him two natures, both divine and human. This false teaching had infected even Emperor Constans himself and even the Patriarch of Constantinople. But what does all this mean for a man firmly devoted to the truth? For him it is all the same — even if the whole world should fall away from the truth, he will not betray it. Such also was Saint Martin. The emperor demanded that Saint Martin accept the false teaching, but Martin did not agree and said: “Even if my body were torn into pieces, I will not depart from the orthodox teaching.” And indeed he did not depart. He was deprived of his rank and exiled into imprisonment, but his faith was not harmed. He remained Orthodox in belief until death. For this God rewarded him. When he departed, many miracles occurred from his relics.
II. a) Thus, it is not enough only to believe, but it is necessary to believe rightly — only the right faith saves us. Therefore we must listen only to Orthodox preachers, accept into our heart only Orthodox teaching — only that which the Holy Orthodox Church preserves. Woe to those who consider the teaching of the Holy Orthodox Church outdated, who seek something new in the Church, who would wish to reform the Church itself. No — the Church is “the pillar and ground of the truth”; in her, as in a treasury, is preserved all that was handed down to her by Jesus Christ, the Founder and Author of the faith, and by the Apostles, the spreaders of the faith. It is not she that must be reformed, but she must reform us, putting off from us the old man and clothing us in the new, educating us for heaven, for the Kingdom of Heaven. Her teaching is that saving leaven with which the whole world, all living humanity, must be permeated. “And even if an angel from heaven should preach something other than what the apostles preached, let him be anathema.”
Meanwhile, even in our time there are falsely-named, self-appointed teachers who boldly preach their own teaching, and not that which is preached in the Church; they preach not only orally, but also in print. If any of us should somewhere encounter such false teachers, let us flee from them; let us close our eyes and ears so as not to hear their seductive words nor see their cunning and crafty actions. And if some doubt should creep into our soul concerning the truth of our faith, and if we notice in ourselves even the slightest sympathy for their teaching, let us quickly go to the shepherds appointed for us by the authority of the Church, reveal to them the turmoil of our soul, ask them to resolve our perplexities, and they will give us an answer and tell us all that is necessary for the strengthening of our faith. In any case, let us be firm in confessing our right faith and fearlessly confess it everywhere, like Saint Martin, who did not fear even exile and deprivation of rank.
b) Yes, one must be ready for everything for the sake of the faith, if only to preserve and keep it.
Nothing can be more precious than faith. If we preserve the faith, we preserve everything; if we lose the faith, we lose everything. Faith is that treasure, that precious pearl, for which one must sacrifice everything dear to us in this life. What is our life without right faith? It is a joyless existence on earth. What are the goods of this world — wealth, glory, health — when the treasure of right faith is not in our soul? All this cannot fill the emptiness of this life and cannot constitute true happiness for us. What, finally, are even our good deeds — almsgiving, fasting, prayer — without right faith? All this cannot bring peace to our spirit, cannot give true joy to our heart. Peace of spirit and joy of heart are in possessing the right faith, and all the good we do is pleasing to God and beneficial to us only with right faith.
The Venerable Nikita the Confessor, persecuted for the faith and wearied by these persecutions, in order to free himself from them agreed to serve the liturgy with a heretical patriarch, to which he was compelled. But as soon as he did this, he lost all peace in his soul. He began to weep over his sin, but even tears did not bring him peace — his conscience continued to torment him. And he found complete peace only when he appeared again in the city and publicly began once more to expose the heretics in their errors, for which he was again taken to new sufferings.
The Holy Martyr Koprios once thought to find happiness in departing from the faith in Christ. Already he was in honor and sat in royal chambers in costly garments. But as soon as his companion Patermuphios, who remained faithful to Christ, began to entreat him not to deprive himself of the joy with Christ for the sake of temporary pleasures, he immediately felt the emptiness of those pleasures, cast off his costly garments, and returned again to Christ. Yes, our happiness is in Christ, in faith in Him, in preserving and confessing the right faith. All who fall away from the right faith are worthy of tears and every compassion.
III. Let us, brethren, have compassion on those who have been infected with this or that false teaching, and let us thank God that He helps us to preserve the right faith — the faith which the whole Orthodox Church confesses. This is a great mercy of God and a great blessing for us from the Lord. Oh, that we might end our life with this faith! And for this let us express the right faith by good works — let us strive to live according to faith. A life in accordance with faith will attract to us the grace of God, which will help us to become so firm in faith that no temptations, no trials, no examples of apostasy will lead us to betray the faith. Faith will enter into our flesh and blood and become an inseparable possession of our spirit.
Not being content with this, let us strive to love the study of the word of God, the lives of the saints, and likewise the reading of other spiritual and moral books written in the spirit of the Orthodox Church. Then we will not only stand firm in the faith ourselves, but will also be able to strengthen others of weak faith and draw them to it. Oh, that it might be so! Let us entreat Saint Martin, the confessor of the faith, and he will help us.
(Compiled according to the instruction of Priest P. Shumov, published in the supplement to No. 15 of the journal “Kormchiy,” 1896.).
II. a) Thus, it is not enough only to believe, but it is necessary to believe rightly — only the right faith saves us. Therefore we must listen only to Orthodox preachers, accept into our heart only Orthodox teaching — only that which the Holy Orthodox Church preserves. Woe to those who consider the teaching of the Holy Orthodox Church outdated, who seek something new in the Church, who would wish to reform the Church itself. No — the Church is “the pillar and ground of the truth”; in her, as in a treasury, is preserved all that was handed down to her by Jesus Christ, the Founder and Author of the faith, and by the Apostles, the spreaders of the faith. It is not she that must be reformed, but she must reform us, putting off from us the old man and clothing us in the new, educating us for heaven, for the Kingdom of Heaven. Her teaching is that saving leaven with which the whole world, all living humanity, must be permeated. “And even if an angel from heaven should preach something other than what the apostles preached, let him be anathema.”
Meanwhile, even in our time there are falsely-named, self-appointed teachers who boldly preach their own teaching, and not that which is preached in the Church; they preach not only orally, but also in print. If any of us should somewhere encounter such false teachers, let us flee from them; let us close our eyes and ears so as not to hear their seductive words nor see their cunning and crafty actions. And if some doubt should creep into our soul concerning the truth of our faith, and if we notice in ourselves even the slightest sympathy for their teaching, let us quickly go to the shepherds appointed for us by the authority of the Church, reveal to them the turmoil of our soul, ask them to resolve our perplexities, and they will give us an answer and tell us all that is necessary for the strengthening of our faith. In any case, let us be firm in confessing our right faith and fearlessly confess it everywhere, like Saint Martin, who did not fear even exile and deprivation of rank.
b) Yes, one must be ready for everything for the sake of the faith, if only to preserve and keep it.
Nothing can be more precious than faith. If we preserve the faith, we preserve everything; if we lose the faith, we lose everything. Faith is that treasure, that precious pearl, for which one must sacrifice everything dear to us in this life. What is our life without right faith? It is a joyless existence on earth. What are the goods of this world — wealth, glory, health — when the treasure of right faith is not in our soul? All this cannot fill the emptiness of this life and cannot constitute true happiness for us. What, finally, are even our good deeds — almsgiving, fasting, prayer — without right faith? All this cannot bring peace to our spirit, cannot give true joy to our heart. Peace of spirit and joy of heart are in possessing the right faith, and all the good we do is pleasing to God and beneficial to us only with right faith.
The Venerable Nikita the Confessor, persecuted for the faith and wearied by these persecutions, in order to free himself from them agreed to serve the liturgy with a heretical patriarch, to which he was compelled. But as soon as he did this, he lost all peace in his soul. He began to weep over his sin, but even tears did not bring him peace — his conscience continued to torment him. And he found complete peace only when he appeared again in the city and publicly began once more to expose the heretics in their errors, for which he was again taken to new sufferings.
The Holy Martyr Koprios once thought to find happiness in departing from the faith in Christ. Already he was in honor and sat in royal chambers in costly garments. But as soon as his companion Patermuphios, who remained faithful to Christ, began to entreat him not to deprive himself of the joy with Christ for the sake of temporary pleasures, he immediately felt the emptiness of those pleasures, cast off his costly garments, and returned again to Christ. Yes, our happiness is in Christ, in faith in Him, in preserving and confessing the right faith. All who fall away from the right faith are worthy of tears and every compassion.
III. Let us, brethren, have compassion on those who have been infected with this or that false teaching, and let us thank God that He helps us to preserve the right faith — the faith which the whole Orthodox Church confesses. This is a great mercy of God and a great blessing for us from the Lord. Oh, that we might end our life with this faith! And for this let us express the right faith by good works — let us strive to live according to faith. A life in accordance with faith will attract to us the grace of God, which will help us to become so firm in faith that no temptations, no trials, no examples of apostasy will lead us to betray the faith. Faith will enter into our flesh and blood and become an inseparable possession of our spirit.
Not being content with this, let us strive to love the study of the word of God, the lives of the saints, and likewise the reading of other spiritual and moral books written in the spirit of the Orthodox Church. Then we will not only stand firm in the faith ourselves, but will also be able to strengthen others of weak faith and draw them to it. Oh, that it might be so! Let us entreat Saint Martin, the confessor of the faith, and he will help us.
(Compiled according to the instruction of Priest P. Shumov, published in the supplement to No. 15 of the journal “Kormchiy,” 1896.).
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Notes:
* In the original book, this text is placed under April 14th, due to Saint Martin being commemorated in the Slavic calendar on that date, but in this English translation it is placed under April 13th, since this is his feast day in the Greek calendar.
