By Fr. George Dorbarakis
The note in the Synaxarion of Saint Clement, that his entire life was a single path of martyrdom, is also the central point emphasized by the Holy Hymnographer Theophanes, the poet of the Saint’s Canon.
“You traversed extended struggles upon the earth, O venerable one, and were thus deemed worthy to receive the crown of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
“You endured, O most wise one, the wounds of tortures, long-lasting and drawn out over many years; therefore you were shown to be greatly victorious.”
Indeed, one cannot but marvel at the multitude and the length of the tortures the Saint endured, with steadfast resolve, always fixing his gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not collapse under the first blows. His executioners were methodical and cruel toward him: they knew how to torture him without delivering the decisive blow. Yet, of course, they remained on the surface of their torments. They did not know — and could not see — that these blows, transformed by the Saint’s faith and by the grace of God, became for him, and for the whole world, “achievements and a festival.”
