Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 2

The Month of September

Day 2

3. To Mothers Who Are Widows and Have Young Children

(From the Life of the Holy Martyr Mamas. September 2 in the Festal Menaion)

One often encounters in this world such a sorrowful sight: a widow dies surrounded by helpless young children. How terrible is her situation! Even as she struggles against death and grows weaker, you see that what torments her, what torments her beyond expression, is the grievous fate she imagines awaits her orphans after her death. “What will they do after I am gone? What will they live on? Who will need them?” such a woman thinks. And thus to bodily illness is added yet another torment, that of the soul; fear presses upon her heart, pity for her children strikes it with sorrow, and, looking ahead to the bitter fate of her children, who will then be complete orphans, the poor widowed mother gives herself over to boundless grief.

Widowed mothers who have young children! What do you think? Must all of you likewise look with such sorrow upon the future fate of your orphaned children without you? Is it really only left for you to think that without you your children will inevitably be both unhappy and helpless? And finally, is there truly no means by which you might in some way comfort and encourage yourselves when reflecting upon their future fate?

No. You should neither look upon the future fate of your children with hopeless grief, nor think that without you your children will inevitably remain unhappy and helpless. Finally, there is indeed a means by which you can comfort and encourage yourselves when reflecting upon the fate of your children. You will surely ask, “How can this be?” We shall give you the answer in an example.

The following is written in the life of the holy martyr Mamas. When the martyr’s father, Theodotos, was cast into prison for confessing the name of Christ, his wife, the blessed Ruffina, also followed him there. While in prison, Theodotos turned to God in fervent prayer, asking Him either to strengthen him for the torments that lay before him, or to take his soul to Himself even before those torments. Theodotos’s prayer was heard, and he died in prison.

His death affected his wife Ruffina so profoundly that she went into labor prematurely and gave birth to a son. Seeing on one side the dead body of her husband and on the other her newborn child, she likewise began, as her husband had, to ask God for death, saying:

“Lord, grant that I too may go by the same path by which my husband has gone; and, releasing me from this brief life, receive me also into the eternal dwellings. As for my newborn son, You Yourself raise him as it is pleasing to Your holy will, and Yourself be father to him and mother and guardian of his life.”

And this prayer of Ruffina, just like that of her husband, was heard, and the Lord also took her to Himself.

And so Mamas, the newborn infant, was left in the prison among the dead bodies of his father and mother. Whose heart would not tremble at seeing an infant in such a terrible and helpless condition, a child who had scarcely seen the light of day! But his mother had entrusted him to God, and God was with him.

On the night of Ruffina’s death, in Caesarea an angel appeared to a pious and noble woman named Ammia and told her to take Mamas’s parents from the prison and bury them with honor, and to take Mamas himself into her home and raise him as her own son.

Ammia immediately went to the prison, took from there the bodies of Mamas’s parents and buried them in her garden. Then she also took Mamas with great joy, since she was childless; she raised him and brought him up in piety. When he had grown older, she sent him to school, where in his studies he far surpassed all his peers. Finally, before her death, she made him heir, as it is said, to many of her estates on earth.

This example, it seems to us, should above all convince you, widowed mothers, that neither should you look upon the future fate of your children with hopeless grief, nor should you think that without you your children will remain unhappy and helpless. Finally, there is a means by which you can always encourage and comfort yourselves when reflecting upon the fate of your children.

And this means, as you see, consists in entrusting the fate of your children, as the mother of the holy Mamas did, to the common Father of all—God—and asking Him in faith to be the guardian of their lives. And if, as is evident from the example of Mamas’s mother, this means was beneficial for her son and ordered his destiny, then surely it should also encourage and comfort you and kindle in your sorrowful souls a bright hope that God, in answer to your prayer, will not abandon your children, but will Himself become their father; and under His all-powerful guidance they will be better preserved from every evil, both visible and invisible, will better grow in all that is good and beautiful, and will become heirs of the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, do not grieve excessively over the future fate of your children; do not despair; do not lose heart. Rather, entrust them in faith to the all-good Providence and guidance of God. And surely, according to your faith, so shall it be for you, and your children will always be happy and prosperous. Amen.

Questions for Discussion 3

1. What did Theodotos ask God for in his prayer while he was in prison?

2. How did the blessed Ruffina ask God to raise her son Mamas?

3. How did Ammia raise Mamas?

4. In what should the means of encouragement and consolation consist when reflecting upon the fate of one's children?

5. Under what condition will our children be happy and prosperous?

 

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.