By Fr. George Dorbarakis
1. This great Apostle of the Lord, who was numbered by the Lord Himself among the seventy disciples and apostles, and who ministered to the great Paul in his preaching, as well as carried his divine epistles to those to whom they were sent, taught many of the pagans to worship the Holy Trinity. Therefore, when his mind was illumined by the divine radiance of the Paraclete (on the day of Pentecost), and he arose like an unsetting sun from the East, he enlightened the whole world with his divine teachings, performing exceedingly wondrous miracles daily and saving many from evil spirits.
He drew many cities and peoples to the Christian faith, and through holy baptism the believers were thus separated from the unbelievers, with the result that he endured many persecutions and afflictions from the unbelievers. And this was because, advancing with complete steadfastness toward the harshest and most painful tortures, he did not shrink at all before the wrath of rulers. Therefore, because he glorified God also with his very body, he was glorified by Him in a radiant manner. He reposed in the Lord, and now works miracles daily through his relics, healing every kind of illness and driving away unclean spirits.
2. The Holy Hymnographer Joseph does not add especially new details in his Canon for the Apostle Carpos beyond those recorded in his brief synaxarion. His attention is focused on the most wondrous event in which the Apostle participated, namely the reception of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, a reception which explains his entire course of life: his universal outreach to the nations, his apostolic preaching, his martyric end, and the miracles he performed both while alive and after his repose in the Lord. “Making your mind receptive to divine illuminations, you were wholly enlightened, all-blessed one, and went forth to the preaching of Christ” (Vespers Sticheron). “Having received the divine radiance of the Paraclete, O all-wise Carpos, you enlightened those darkened by ignorance” (Kathisma).
Saint Joseph, beyond the fact of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him and consequently his guidance and strengthening by the Lord Himself (Ode 3), emphasizes his companionship with the Apostle Paul and the ministry he offered him in his work of universal dimensions — Paul entrusted his epistles to him for delivery to the faithful. “Journeying many times with Paul, the luminary of the world...” (Ode 4); “Ministering to Paul the wise guide through inspired epistles, O Hierarch, you conveyed saving teachings to those being saved” (Ode 8). For this reason the ecclesiastical poet does not hesitate to characterize Carpos himself also as a preacher to the nations like Paul, as a venerable teacher, a sacred initiate and herald, standing joyfully before Christ the Master: “Having become a preacher to the nations, an apostle, a venerable teacher, a sacred initiate and herald, O Carpos, you stand in gladness before the Master” (Ode 5). Indeed, with a very powerful verse Saint Joseph presents Carpos walking in his missionary labor, and each of his steps becoming an ascent toward holiness: “You sanctified the earth, O Carpos, walking upon the earth and preaching the holy gospel” (Ode 9).
What was it that made Carpos, as also the other apostles and disciples of the Lord, have such a divinely-inspired course in the world? It was the fact that he too journeyed, though somewhat farther off, together with the Lord until the end of His earthly life, His Holy Ascension (see Ode 9), being moved by his great love for Him. And it is well known that no one can stand beside the Lord and follow Him unless he is governed by ardent love for His all-honorable person and by a resolve unto death to keep His holy commandments. “Wholly devoted to the Master, you preserved His sacred laws unbroken” (Ode 1). “Loving in mystical theoria the Mind beyond understanding, your mind was illumined” (Ode 1).
From this perspective one can understand why Carpos, on the one hand, endured so many persecutions and afflictions from the unbelievers — he was a continuation of the Lord (see Odes 3, 7, etc.) — and on the other hand why so many miracles and signs were wrought through him, sealing his apostolic preaching. “Your word rescued men from irrationality, and the greatest display of miracles, O glorious Carpos, guided the deluded to piety” (Ode 6). One troparion of the Hymnographer even places Saint Carpos on the same level as the Twelve Apostles, indeed alongside the foremost Apostle Peter. Just as, according to Saint Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, even Peter’s shadow healed the sick, so too the mere voice of Carpos and the mere motion of his hand making the sign of the Cross brought the grace of God to those dwelling in darkness. “Driving away sicknesses by your voice and healing sufferings by the seal alone, you proclaimed the saving preaching, O sacred initiate Carpos, enlightening those in darkness” (Ode 7).
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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