Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 5

The Month of September

Day 5

6. To What Terrible Crimes Apostasy from the Faith Can Lead a Person

(The Sufferings of the Holy Martyrs Urban, Theodore, Medimnos, and those with them; and of the Holy Martyrs Juventinus and Maximinus. September 5, Menaion)

To Parishioners Living Among the Old Believers

It is known that, in general, all the Old Believers have no love for Orthodox Christians, and almost all of them seek to do them harm. But it is also known that those who are distinguished by a particular hatred of the Orthodox are not those who were born and raised in the schism, but those who themselves abandoned Orthodoxy and entered into it because of their own foolish convictions. Why is this latter the case? Why, brethren, do those among the Old Believers who themselves departed from the Orthodox Church into schism show particular hatred toward you? Know that this is because the devil draws especially close to those who have apostatized from Orthodoxy; he takes away from them all love for their neighbors and fills them with every kind of malice. And with such malice, naturally, they become capable of every kind of crime, and in fact they commit such crimes. It is not difficult to prove this truth.

Here, for example, is what is written in the Life of the Holy Martyrs Urban, Theodore, and Medimnos. When many of the Christians in Constantinople abandoned Orthodoxy for the Arian heresy, they first of all launched a persecution against the Orthodox: they drove out Evagrius, the bishop; they beat some of the Christians; they began throwing others into prison; and they plundered the possessions of still others. And when the apostate emperor Valens was approached by the aforementioned Holy Martyrs, who came to ask him for protection from the Arians, instead of granting them that protection, he ordered them to be secretly put to death. The Holy Martyrs were placed aboard a ship, and when the ship was in the middle of the sea, the emperor's servants set it on fire, and the Saints perished in the flames.

Another example. Once the emperor Julian, likewise an apostate from the faith, intending to defile Christians, ordered that all foodstuffs being sold in the marketplace be sprinkled with the defilements of sacrifices offered to idols. Two Christian soldiers, Juventinus and Maximinus, having learned of this while they were at a banquet, bitterly expressed their grief over the emperor's lawlessness. The emperor learned of this and at first ordered them to be beaten without mercy; then he threw them into prison; and finally, their holy heads too were cut off by his command.

Is it not true, then, after this, that those who have apostatized from the Orthodox faith and become schismatics, brethren, hate you precisely because the devil has drawn especially close to them as apostates, has taken love away from them, and has filled them with every kind of malice? Yes, look at the Arian heretics. When the Orthodox in Constantinople became such, what happened? Immediately, upon their apostasy from the Orthodox faith, the new Arian heretics began persecuting the Orthodox: they expelled their bishop, beat them, imprisoned them, and robbed them. And the apostate emperors, as you have seen, drowned Orthodox Christians and had their heads cut off. Whose work is this, chiefly? Certainly, first and foremost, the work of the devil's hands. What did the Lord say about the unbelieving Jews? “Your father is the devil, and you want to carry out the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning” (Jn. 8:44). Can the same thing not be said about those who have apostatized into schism? Again, yes. If their faith were true and the Spirit of God were with them, then, of course, they would have love for everyone; they would be at peace with everyone; and they would have compassion for everyone. But what do we see in apostates? As you have heard, there is in them nothing but malice and a readiness, because of it, to commit every kind of crime. Truly, every tree is known by its fruits.

But what, you will say, does this have to do with us? It means that you should put aside all doubts concerning the truth of the faith and of the Church; flee from the Old Believers as from a deadly plague; and, while doing them only good, nevertheless avoid their blasphemous conversations concerning our Holy Church in every possible way. Reject their foul and old-wives' tales, and continually remember the word of the Apostle: “That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the deceit of men, by their cunning craftiness in the art of deception” (Eph. 4:14). Amen.

Questions for Conversation 6

1. How did the soldiers Juventinus and Maximinus express their grief over the emperor's lawlessness?

2. What happened to the holy heads of Juventinus and Maximus?

3. What does the devil take away from those who apostatize from the Orthodox faith?

4. Under what condition would those who have apostatized have love for everyone, peace with everyone, and compassion for everyone?

5. Doubts concerning what should we put aside?

 

Source: The Cheti-Minei: Homilies for Every Day of the Year (Book 1: September, October, November) by Archpriest Viktor Guryev. Publication of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, 1896. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.