DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9 (01/20) First Reading, Vespers
of a Holy Ascetic: Euthymios
The Righteous ~ In God’s Hand: Wisdom 3:1-9, SAAS,
especially vs. 1: “But the
souls of the righteous are in the hand of God....” For
three days we will reflect on Old Testament lessons read at the Vespers of
righteous and God-bearing ascetics - worthy monks such as Theodosios,
Anthony, and Euthymios. The Church remembers these three during
January - on the Eleventh, the Seventeenth and the Twentieth respectively -
each one of whom the faithful call the Great.
And why are they deemed Great? First, understand that in Baptism
prayers were offered for us all to “Preserve pure and unpolluted the
garment of incorruption...” with which we were clothed immediately upon
coming out of the cleansing waters.
All the faithful face a great, daily, cosmic struggle as invincible
warriors against the attacks of corrupting powers who assail them. The Apostle Paul knew this great
struggle to be standing “...fast in one Spirit, with one mind striving
together for the faith of the Gospel” (Phil. 1:27) - a glorious
greatness!
Great ascetics always are “...anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication, let [their] requests be made
known to God” (Phil. 4:6).
They meditate on “...whatever things are noble, whatever things
are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report” (Phil. 4:8). Their example calls us to remain in
God’s hand and develop a strong, inner spirit of peace in the face of
pain and death, to accustom ourselves to discipline by which God deems one
“...worthy of Himself” (Wis. 3:5).
Wise Solomon teaches that the righteous remain in the hand
of God since “...no torture will ever touch them” (vs. 1). Obviously, many of God’s righteous
have been tortured and suffered great pain. Here is an example: a man who knew
Father Arseny as a fellow prisoner in a special
Soviet labor camp reports that “He amazed me during the last trek. I could see that he was an exceptional
man. He had been working like all
the others for many years in the same camp. He was old and exhausted but he was
still alive, he hadn’t died.
He believed in something, he believed so hard that this was obviously
the only reason he did not die, but lived.” The Priest survived the mosquitoes
“...which ate us alive. We
were in such a state that people fell down dead while still holding their
spades and axes.” The righteous
often suffer great pains.
That which keeps the righteous alive and untouched by
torments is their interior life: “...he believed so hard that...he was
still alive.” Yes, violence
and pain touch their bodies as with every mortal, but no torture ever touches
them (vs. 1). The verb touch
used in the text connotes interacting or communicating with pain. Pain and torment carry messages of hate,
despair, or degradation; but since “...the souls of the righteous are in
the hand of God” (vs. 1) and ever battle to keep themselves in His hand,
they reject pain’s messages and fend off torture’s impacts.
And even in death, when “...they seemed to have died,
and their departure was considered to be misfortune, and their passage from us
to be their destruction...they are at peace” (vss. 2, 3). Why? Because in Christ
the righteous ascetic receives death as a delusion of the unwise, of the
godless, of those whom Solomon calls, the foolish (vs. 2). Thus, in the face of death,
“...their hope is full of immortality” (vs. 4), for they only allow
the Spirit of Christ to touch them.
Their interaction and communication is with the life-giving Spirit of
God, by remaining in God’s hand.
Great inner strength in the face of pain and death is
sustained only by discipline: prayer, fasting, godly reading, and the practice
of the virtues. By these, as Saint
Nikolai of Zica says, it becomes sweeter to
“...walk with God without men than to walk with men without
God.” May God find us
“...like gold in a furnace...” and accept us “...as a whole
burnt offering” (vs. 6).
Through the prayers of Thy righteous ascetics, have mercy
upon us and save us, O Lord.
Return to the January Calendar