Day 19
50. Instruction to Mothers Who Have Lost Their Children: Third Discourse
(From the account of Holy Martyr Varus, Blessed Cleopatra, and her son John)
To you, mothers whom the Lord has ordained to lose one or another of your children, we address these words. What does it mean that whenever we have seen you at the graves of your children, we have always encountered a heart-rending sight, seeing on your faces inconsolable grief or boundless despair? What makes you give yourselves over to such sorrow? Intense love? But love must be guided by sound judgment. A lack of faith in God? But this is very dangerous.
Yes, mothers, if you are Christians, you should not behave like those who have no hope. If you believe that God exists, that the soul is immortal, and that there is a future life, why then behave as though there were no future life, as though nothing had existed, nothing existed now, and nothing would ever exist, and as though your children had vanished forever? This is unworthy of Christians. God exists; therefore, as the common Father of all, He has taken your children to Himself and will surely preserve and raise them better than you could. There is a future life; therefore, you will see your children again. There is recompense after death; therefore, there is no need to worry about your children’s fate in the life after death if you raised them in the Orthodox faith and in piety, or you can always obtain mercy for them at God’s judgment through fervent prayer. Therefore, grieve, but not without reason. Believe, hope, pray, and the Lord will comfort you.
Saint Cleopatra, the daughter of a pious and wealthy family in Palestine, was given in marriage to a military commander. He died while serving the emperor in Egypt, leaving behind a young son, John. Her son remained the widowed mother’s only consolation. She raised him with all the tenderness of a mother’s love and prayed for him.
When Varus, the commander of an Egyptian military company, was tortured and martyred for openly confessing the name of Christ, his body was thrown among the carcasses of animals. Cleopatra, who had watched the martyr’s sufferings with loving concern and without fear, secretly concealed his holy body in her house with the help of her servants. There, with reverence, she laid it in a cave beneath her bedroom. This took place during the persecution of Maximian Herculius in the year 313.
Under Constantine, the persecutions came to an end. As the pious Cleopatra returned to her homeland, she reverently took the martyr’s bones with her, a task that caused her considerable difficulty. She placed the relics in the family tomb in her settlement of Edra. Every day she prayed beside the martyr’s relics and resolved to build a church in his honor.
Meanwhile, her son came of age. Raised under his mother’s watchful and loving care, he was a fine young man: kind, obedient, and ready to do whatever was good. His loving mother took steps to have him enter military service.
At his mother’s request, and in recognition of his father’s merits, her son was accepted with the rank of officer, and a military belt was sent for him. His mother was very happy at her son’s good fortune, but she said, “Let my beloved son transfer the holy relics with me to the new church, and then he will depart for military service.” A bishop and his clergy were invited to the consecration of the church, and a multitude of people gathered.
When the consecration had been completed and the relics had been transferred to the church, during the Divine Liturgy the mother fervently prayed to the martyr to obtain from the Lord for her son whatever accorded with God’s holy will, which is good and wise. “I dare not ask for anything more,” she said, “for the Lord knows what is beneficial for us.”
A lavish feast was prepared for the guests at the new church. Christian love went further: the mother herself served at the table, and her son also served at her request. “You and I will eat afterward,” she told her son.
Toward the end of the meal, her son developed a headache and went to bed. His mother was about to eat with him, but she discovered that he was burning with a high fever. She became alarmed and remained at the bedside of her sick son. Around midnight, her son died.
The mother wept inconsolably over the loss of her only son, her only joy. In the turmoil of her soul, she reproached the martyr for his seeming indifference to her fate. Exhausted by her inner suffering, she fell into a light sleep.
The martyr and her son appeared to her, both dressed in splendid military garments and surrounded by a wondrous light. The martyr said to the mother, “You complain of me in vain. I know and value all your pious deeds of love, both those you performed in Egypt and those you performed here. I have prayed for you, and I continue to pray for you. Through my prayers, the Lord has forgiven the sins of your relatives who rest in your family tomb. For your son, I obtained from the Lord that he should now be with me in the ranks of the soldiers of the King of Heaven, who stand near His throne. Is this not the good will of God that you desired for your son? If you wish, your son may also enter the service of an earthly king. Choose, but do not be deceived.”
Her son begged the martyr not to return him to the world, full of sins and troubles, even if his mother wished it. Cleopatra, seeing her son in such extraordinary glory, said, “Take me with you as well.” The holy martyr replied, “We will take you when the time comes.” Then both became invisible.
When Cleopatra came to herself, she found her heart filled with joy and gladness. She told the priests about the vision, and her son’s body was laid beside the martyr’s relics.
Here is a beautiful lesson for you, mothers, who grieve inconsolably over the loss of children dear to your hearts. As you have seen, Cleopatra also wept bitterly over her son, just as you do. But was such weeping necessary? The same may be said to you. Who knows? Perhaps your children, too, stand before the throne of the King of Heaven. Perhaps they have been enrolled among the armies of Christ. Perhaps they glorify Him there, in the dwelling places of the Heavenly Father, together with the Angels.
Therefore, rather than weep, we should instead rejoice over the dead, especially pious children; rejoice that the Lord has taken them from this vain and turbulent world into His radiant dwelling places, where only purity and righteousness dwell, and from which every sickness, sorrow, and sighing have been banished.
Be prudent, then, and do not anger God through inconsolable grief. But if, against your will, grief should begin to torment your soul, then immediately kneel down and cast yourselves before the Lord in tearful prayer. As the Father of mercies and of all consolation, He will surely hear your prayer and send such light and peace into your spirit that even in your loss you will find an inexhaustible treasure of spiritual joy. Amen.
Questions for Discussion 50:1. Where did Saint Cleopatra conceal the body of Blessed Varus, who was martyred for confessing the name of Christ?
2. What was John to do before entering military service?
3. What did Cleopatra pray to Varus for during the Divine Liturgy?
4. Who served at the table during the feast?
5. What did Varus obtain from the Lord for John while Cleopatra was in a light sleep?
