Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: October 25

 

The Month of October

Day 25

56. To Parishioners Living Among Schismatics

(From the Life of the Martyrs Markianos and Martyrios)

It is known that schismatics entice Orthodox Christians into schism not only through blasphemies against the Church and threats of eternal torments. No, very often their wealthy members also entice poor Orthodox Christians into schism through their wealth. A wealthy schismatic sees a poor man and says, “Come over to our faith, and you will become rich.” Or he entices him in another way. He singles out a poor Orthodox Christian and begins, by every means at his disposal, to oppress him, persecute him, take away what little he has left, and drive him to the utmost extremity. But what do you think, Orthodox Christians? In either case, should you enter into schism or not? God forbid! Know that it is better to die than to change your faith, and a hundred times better to endure every kind of deprivation than to abandon it. The saints will convince you that we speak the truth. Consider how they acted when they were enticed into schism either by promises of wealth or through deprivation.

The Holy Martyrs Markianos and Martyrios were, respectively, a Reader and a Subdeacon. They lived during the period when the Arian heresy was spreading most vigorously among the Orthodox. They were great preachers of the word of God, staunch champions of Orthodoxy, and, like two shields, sheltered the Church from the arrows of the Arians. God granted them, as He had His Apostles, such great wisdom that even the most cunning Arians could neither refute it nor answer them. And so the latter, wishing to win the Saints over to their side, first began offering them great quantities of gold. They promised to obtain great favors for them from the emperor, to elevate them to episcopal sees, and to give them many estates to possess, provided only that they abandon Orthodoxy and enter into their schism. Markianos and Martyrios, however, regarded the Arians’ promises as nothing. They accepted no gold from them, despised the honors offered to them, laughed at their flattery and treachery, and preferred to accept reproach, dishonor, torments, and death rather than consent to heresy and spend their days in wealth and glory. And so the Arians, seeing that they were accomplishing nothing, condemned the confessors to death and led them to the place of execution. There, the Saints asked for a little time to pray and cried out: “Lord God ... receive the souls of Your servants in peace! For we accept death for Your sake and have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter. We rejoice that we depart from this life by a martyr’s death, suffering for Your holy name! Vouchsafe that we may be partakers of eternal life in Your Heavenly Kingdom!” Having thus prayed and said, “Amen,” the Saints bowed their heads and, as it is written, “were beheaded by the impious Arians for confessing the Divinity of Jesus Christ.”

Do you see, then? Neither wealth, nor honors, nor glory enticed Saints Markianos and Martyrios, and neither threats nor even death itself could force them to renounce the Orthodox faith and enter the Arian heresy. Should you, then, fall into the sin of Judas and sell yourselves for wealth? Should you fear oppression at the hands of wealthy fanatics? No, let neither one nor the other shake you; may you, too, remain faithful to your mother, the Church, unto the end. And in order to remain so forever, call to mind more often the following words of the holy Apostle Peter: “Beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the lawless; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Peter 3:17–18).

Questions for Discussion 56:

1. Who were the Holy Martyrs Markianos and Martyrios, who sheltered the Church from the arrows of the Arians?

2. What did God grant Markianos and Martyrios, so that even the most cunning of the Arians could not refute them?

3. How did Markianos and Martyrios respond to the flattery and treachery of the Arians?

4. Of what did Markianos and Martyrios ask the Lord to make them worthy participants?

5. In what, according to the words of the Apostle Peter, should we grow?

 

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.