By Fr. George Dorbarakis
1. Saint Varus lived during the reign of Maximian and was a soldier in Egypt. He came from a distinguished, illustrious, and pious family. When seven saints were imprisoned for a long time because of their faith in Christ, Saint Varus cared for them daily. It happened that one of the seven fell asleep in the Lord, and Saint Varus took his place, provoking the ruler’s opposition. The ruler brought them all before him and ordered that Varus be the first to be beaten with clubs and that his sides be scraped for a prolonged period. After the tortures had continued for five hours, he surrendered his soul to the Lord.
2. Saint Varus brings to mind other martyrs who were led to martyrdom by the example of those who had gone before them. In other words, they admired the struggles of earlier martyrs and were thus moved to enter the contest of martyrdom of their own free will. The hymns of our Church, of course, never cease to emphasize the Saint’s great love for God, a love reaching the point of the sweetest longing. This love led him to deny himself and endure the tortures with great courage and strength:
“Seized by divine love, O all-blessed one, and by the sweetest longing, you denied yourself and steadfastly endured every torment of the flesh, contending with resolute courage.”
We must note the Hymnographer’s observation: the immediate result of love for God is the overcoming of fear and the attainment of great courage. This is also what Saint John the Theologian observes: “Perfect love casts out fear.” Wherever the love of God takes hold, all fear truly disappears. The true Christian, as Saint Varus was, is also the most courageous and valiant of people. The hymn our Church offers on this occasion, and it is not the only one, is most revealing. During his martyrdom, Saint Varus saw his flesh falling away together with his blood, yet he behaved, the hymn says, as though someone else were suffering:
"You saw your flesh falling down along with your blood, and yet, O most noble Athlete, you stood there as if another were suffering."
We believe this observation is particularly timely today, when the overall atmosphere in which we live — one of fear, insecurity, and anxiety, given what is being said about our homeland’s bleak, indeed increasingly bleak, future — often leads us to melancholy, hopelessness, and despair. We are called, however, to adopt a different outlook: to endure our afflictions with courage, because an antidote exists — the vision of Christ and our love for Him. In other words, the example of Saint Varus offers us a note of hope amid the darkness of our times: we must begin to love Christ more, so that through this love we may fortify ourselves with courage and boldness. Perhaps this is precisely what we, Christians today, lack: we despair too easily and lose heart. We do not possess the love we ought to have.
Through its Hymnography, our Church places the matter directly before us: do we wish to acquire the “sinews,” that is, the strength and will, to endure everything? Our hopes must be directed first and foremost toward God, for hope in Him always brings the strength to overcome afflictions. This is what happened with Saint Varus:
“With steadfast resolve you entered the courageous contests, strengthened by your hopes for the good things to come.”
Saint Varus is also associated with the moving story of a woman named Cleopatra and her young son. This story is recorded in various collections of the Gerontikon and is mentioned several times by the Hymnographer of the Saint’s Service. The hymn says:
“Anointing you with fragrant oils, the wondrous Cleopatra laid you beneath the earth and built you a most holy church. Celebrating your feast, O wondrous Varus, and faithfully processing with your relics, she saw that you had enrolled her little son in the spiritual army, adorned him with glory, and placed him among the choirs of the Saints.”
He spoke comforting words to his mother, telling her how well he was faring where he now dwelt. This enabled Cleopatra to understand that her son, too, had been enrolled in the spiritual army, glorified, and numbered among the choirs of the Saints. Cleopatra was comforted. From then on, she remained in the church, continually serving Saint Varus, and she too surrendered her holy soul in peace.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
