By Fr. George Dorbarakis
1. Saint Eumenios (who lived during the seventh century A.D.) subjected himself from his youth to rigorous spiritual ascetic practices, to such an extent that, by the grace of God, he attained profound humility. For this reason, the Church entrusted him with the episcopate of the Church of Gortyna. On one occasion, the Saint burned with torches a most fearsome dragon that charged against him. From the Church of Gortyna in Crete he went to Rome, which he illumined like a torch with his divine teachings and astonished by the multitude of his miracles. From there he descended to the Thebaid of Egypt, which, even without his own intention, he saved from the affliction of drought. There he departed peacefully to the Lord, while the inhabitants of Thebes sent his holy body back to his homeland. Raxos, moreover, is the name of the place that possesses his venerable body, just as the same place also possesses the venerable body of Saint Cyril.
2. Saint Eumenios, this distinguished son of the Cretan land, “was fortunate,” after his holy repose, to find a worthy hymnographer in the person of Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (9th century A.D.). And by this we mean, of course, that we the faithful were the ones who were fortunate to have his life “sung” by this great ecclesiastical poet, who left us a multitude of Canons and Services. For Saint Eumenios himself rejoices and exults where he is, within the grace of the Lord, and his joy is not affected by the greater or lesser excellence of the Services composed in his honor. Allow us, however, to emphasize that the Service of the Saint truly moves on a plane of lofty inspiration, of such a kind that, together with glorifying the Saint, we also glorify God for the gift He bestowed upon the Holy Hymnographer, who, consciously beginning his work of hymnography in honor of the Saints, “imitates” the greatest of poets, Homer. Just as Homer, in order to describe in his Iliad the things concerning Achilles and the events that took place at Troy, invokes the inspiration of the Muse — “Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many ways…” — so Saint Joseph likewise calls upon the Lord to grant him His grace, so that what he says concerning Saint Eumenios may be worthy of his holiness: “Have mercy, O Lord, upon Your servant… and grant me the mercy of Your compassion, that I may glorify You unceasingly with hymns, and today crown with songs Your faithful servant, the Bishop of Gortyna.” And we have the impression that, if Saint Joseph were alive today, he would extend his encomium of Saint Eumenios also to his namesakes, his spiritual “likenesses,” the Holy Elders Eumenios of the Hospital for Infectious Diseases of Attica and Eumenios of Roustika in Rethymno, Crete. Crete, slender of form, heroic in spirit, and the mother of Saints, ought today to tremble with emotion over her great son, Saint Eumenios, but also over his sanctified “extensions,” the contemporary saints who bear the name Eumenios.
There is neither the space nor the time for us to examine the many and varied dimensions of the charismatic personality of Saint Eumenios as the poet of our Church presents them to us. Two points, however, deserve our particular attention.
First is the explanation offered by the Hymnographer in order to demonstrate the holiness of Eumenios. He is a Saint because he became a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. “You became a house of the Spirit,” he emphasizes, and not merely once. And indeed, the Saint is not simply a good person, as we all now know, but one who was united with God, who became a member of Christ, and in whom He dwells by His grace, in the entirety of the human being, both soul and body. This is what the Apostle Paul emphasizes in order to make the Christian realize the greatness bestowed upon him by Christ: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?” And elsewhere: “You are the temple of the living God.” Such a holy temple was Saint Eumenios. The Hymnographer, however, also reveals the manner in which the Saint reached this point: “Devoting yourself to the divine temples, O Hierarch, and adorning yourself with revered studies.” That is, you became a temple of the Holy Spirit, O Hierarch, because you devoted yourself to the divine temples and adorned yourself with meditation upon the law of God. And it is true: no one can be a true Christian, a dwelling place of God, unless he devotes time to the gatherings of the Church and to the study of the word of God. In the Church he lives the mystery of his union with God, and it is the word of God that enlightens the human mind. In this regard, the Hymnographer emphasizes what Saint Gregory the Theologian also emphasized: “It is necessary to withdraw from distractions and know God.” Do you wish to know God, that is, to be united with Him? This is what the knowledge of God means in our Church. There is one way: to devote time to Him. Thus, in other words, the Hymnographer emphasizes the same thing.
The second point to which we direct our attention in what the poet says is the discernment of Saint Eumenios. And this is one of the fundamental qualities that a Christian acquires when he begins to experience the indwelling of the Spirit of God within his being. “You acquired discernment, O Saint, because you brought your mind and soul to peace, free from the passions.” In other words, discernment comes to a person only when, by the grace of God, he subdues his passions and consequently acquires the peace of Christ. We can understand how rare a virtue discernment is, especially in our own time, which is plagued by the intensities of the passions and the turmoil they cause in the soul and body of the human person. It is not outside reality to say that we live in an age of complete imbalance, in which it is difficult, if not often impossible, to find a prudent person who is able to see things in their true dimensions. For this reason, the only solution is to turn to the Lord, the giver of this grace, provided, of course, that we ourselves cooperate toward this end through our spiritual struggle. Saint Eumenios comes today to remind us of this reality and to call us to repentance.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
